Temptations for Men and Victory — Edgar Reich

A Royal Priesthood and Victory Over Temptation

A royal priesthood, a holy nation, you are his own special people, said the Apostle Peter. He said that to believing Christian men. And many of you might say, well, I don't feel like a royal priesthood.

I don't feel like that special man. And there are reasons for that. And so we hope that you will gain this morning an understanding about this chosen generation, a royal priesthood. And so we will talk about temptations and victory.

Dependence on the Holy Spirit

And I'm sorry, I just got to ask the Lord one more time. Heavenly Father, I cannot, you know that I love these men, Father, and Lord, I cannot help them. So I just ask you to come through your Holy Spirit, come mightily upon this place, Father, and then help and change our lives to be men of a royal priesthood.

That's what we want to be. Each one here wants to be that, Father. And so I just pray that you would come. Lord Jesus, it is your meeting. Holy Spirit, come. You teach us. And I ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen. And so temptations and victory. And here is a good, strong Christian man, okay? And this Christian man often faces temptations. And we are reminded of a scripture which says up here, now, when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

So this was said about the 40-day temptation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he was tempted by the devil. The stories are given to us how he was tempted in the flesh, in the spirit, in every way possible.

He was tempted by the devil. And then it says in Luke that he would be tempted again at a more opportune time. And so often we are tempted by Satan when there are opportune times. And now I'm going to ask you for your help to help me a little bit and maybe take the place of some of those evil spirits.

How would you tempt this Christian man and when would you tempt him? When is the best time to tempt him? And if I could have your help, when is the best time to tempt a Christian man? When he's hungry.

Okay. When he's tired. Okay. So hungry, tired.

When he's lonely. Alone. When he's angry. And when he's, what else? When he's wealthy. Pardon me? When he is wealthy. Wealthy.

When he's poor. When he's poor. Okay. Has no money and doesn't know how he's going to pay his bills. Has no faith. So pretty much any time. No faith.

When he has no faith. What else? There's two more. When you're caught up with your worldly activities. Okay. So worldly cares. Yeah.

When he's hurt. Right. When he's hurt. So I don't have any more room here, so we'll stop here. And now the question is, what should we tempt this Christian man with to feel better? What is it that we do to feel better?

Okay. Food. What else? Money. Money. We tempt him with money. Okay. What else? Instant solutions. He looks for instant, okay, instant solutions. Maybe expediency.

Least resistance, maybe, and a decision or something. That's what you'd probably be about. Okay. Decision on your own. Yeah. The self. Yeah. Okay. Self-decision. Decision on your own. Okay. Decision on own.

Addictions. Addictions. Addictions. Drugs.

Drugs. Sex. What else? Rock and roll. Rock and roll. Music. Rock and roll. Okay. What else? That's a pretty good list, isn't it? Sleep. Maybe some of you drink or sleep. Doubt.

Pardon me? Doubt. Drink, sleep, doubt.

I don't have any more room, but I think we've got a good list. That's a good list here. Sleep and doubt. Now, is this Christian man all alone? Does he have any help? What kind of help has he got? He's got the Holy Spirit, right?

Christ and the Holy Spirit as Higher Help

Okay. So, now, the song we sang, could you in turn open up your hymn books again, please, and look at song number 510. 510. And could someone read that for me? Could someone read the chorus for me, please?

Could someone read the chorus for me of 510? Ask the Savior to help you, comfort, strengthen, and keep you. He is willing to aid you. He will carry you through. Praise God. So, we have the Holy Spirit to help us, right?

And we have Jesus to help us. Now, often we don't talk about that Jesus is actually in us and helps us. And I have a verse here, 1 John chapter 4, verse 4. 1 John chapter 4, verse 4. Most of you know it by heart because you are of God, little children, and have overcome them because he who is in you.

In you? You mean Christ is in you? Nobody teaches me that. Is that right? Yep. He who is in you is greater than the devil, than he who is in the world. Praise God. Praise God. So, we have actually the Son of God.

He's not only at the right hand of the Father, and that's a great mystery, but he's also resident in us. He is a help for us. Christ himself. Christ, the living Son of God. And we'll get to a few more verses on that, and also some testimonies on that.

But the other person that is with us constantly, and we are the temple of whom? The Holy Spirit. So, the Holy Spirit is in us. And what does Scripture say about him in Galatians chapter... Sorry, in John chapter 14, verse 26.

John chapter 14, verse 26. And there it says, But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to remembrance all things that I said to you.

So, beloved brothers, if you are a Christian, if you are born again, you have higher help. Don't ever forget it. You have higher help. You cannot overcome all of these things unless you have higher help.

Unless you have Christ in you asking him to help you. Unless you listen to the Holy Spirit. And so we so easily leave that quiet little voice, the voice of the Holy Spirit who comes to help us. And our brother, Alan, who is a former pastor, he's a missionary.

He is one of the pillars of this church. And he is also a personal friend of mine. He's going to represent the Holy Spirit. And I have some problems with food. I love food, and I love especially desserts.

I love sugar. I'm hooked on sugar, okay? So when I go to a grocery store, there are generally two entrances on a grocery store. And one goes through the bakery, and one leads to food. And so the Holy Spirit is with me.

He's in me. And as I get out of my car, I want to go to the left-hand side of the grocery store where the bakery is. Because I've got to go there.

No, don't go there. You'll be tempted.

Lord, Lord, you know, I'm a strong Christian man. I'm going to be all right. I'm going to go that way.

Please don't go this way. The Bible says, flee youthful lusts. Don't go there. Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin. Each victory will help you, some other to win.

Lord, I can't help myself. I've got to go this way. I've got to go this way. And so I end up in the store, because even so the Holy Spirit reminds me, He does not force me. We still have our free will afterwards.

After we're saved, we can still sin if we want to. So I've decided to go into the grocery store. Here are, oh, all of these wonderful cakes. Wow. Look at these brownies. Look at this chocolate cake. Look at this whipped cream cake.

I'm going to buy. I'm going to buy.

No, don't go there. The Lord has bought you with a price. You are not your own. The Lord wants you to use your body for His work. You're killing your body with wrong foods and gluttony. Please don't go there.

Well, Holy Spirit, I just got to go. I got to go. I got to buy. And so I buy with the lusts of my flesh. I give in to the lusts of my flesh. And I buy these things. You know, it doesn't seem like a big sin because the world teaches you you can do whatever you like.

You can have whatever pleasures you like. But I go ahead and I sin and I buy the cake, a whipped cream cake. Now, what happens to the Holy Spirit?

Edgar has grieved the Holy Spirit. Grieving includes pain and tears. He had a way out. He did not have to go that way. He made provision for the flesh. He sinned against God and his own body. Thank you so much, Brother Allen.

Give him a hand.

Surrender Before Resisting Temptation

We all want to see some tears. So, which verse in the Bible did I violate? Can anyone think of a verse in the Bible that I violated by what I did?

Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. Right. Okay. Other verses?

Resist the devil. Resist the devil and he must flee from you. But there's a little word before that which says submit to God. Resist. So if I don't submit first, if I don't surrender first, I'm not going to be successful.

Okay? So, any other thoughts? Any other verses? Okay, here is a verse from Romans 13, verse 14, which says, But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. Romans 13, verse 14.

And, beloved brethren, if I don't put on that Christ, that Son of God, I will not have victory over sin. Okay? So, it's on this t-shirt. I got to put on this shirt because I got to put it on to put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

And you have the verse on the back. So, if I do not put on the Lord Jesus Christ, what happens? I'm going to fall, right? You don't have the armor of God. I don't have higher help, right? You said in your Bible, I can cry out to you, help me, help me.

But, what have I done already? Crave the Holy Spirit. And will He help me in that moment? Already in the store. I'm already in the store, right? I've already decided to sin.

Yes, dear brother. The Bible says, taste and see that the Lord is good. It doesn't say, taste and see that the Lord is intellectually compatible.

Okay, but it also says, taste and see that the Lord is good. It doesn't say, taste and see that the cake is good. Okay? Don't go for destroying your own body. So, we have help. We have higher help through Jesus and through the Holy Spirit.

Christian Marriage and the Challenges of Temptation

Okay? Now, Christian men, in addition to all of this, they also have other difficulties and other problems. And here, at times, there's another problem. Am I really a royal priesthood in my own home? There are added challenges and the wife says, you don't love me, you're going to sleep outside.

I don't want you. And we had discussed at the table before that as men, of course, Scriptures encourage us to love our wives. And those battles at home become a great difficulty for us at times. And so, how do we deal with this?

And as men, we are often not sensitive to the needs of our wives. We're not sensitive to the needs of our spouses. And I wanted to recommend to you, you go on the internet. There's a site called Five Languages of Love.

And it is an excellent site to help you understand your wife better. And they explain some of the underlying principles. And it seems that the husband may not have the same items that make him feel loved compared to the items that a wife makes feel loved.

And so, I really urge you to help you understand your wife better. And I'm dealing with two husbands right now. And they're having great, great difficulties with their wives. They say, I don't understand my wife.

I have no idea what is happening. All of a sudden, she shouts at me. And another wife comes and beats her husband. And how do these things happen? And why I'm a Christian and I'm trying to do right and all of these things are happening.

And I don't understand. And so, as a Christian man, you also ought to know the difference between PMS and PMDD. PMDD is a premenstrual dysphoric disorder. And go to the Mayo Clinic and have this explained to you.

Because when a woman goes a further step after PMS with her difficulties, there is sadness or hopelessness. She might be going into depression. There might be anxiety or tension. There's extreme moodiness.

There's marked irritability or anger at you. You have done nothing wrong. And yet, you're put down. Those of you that are married, you know what I'm talking about. And it's up to us as the Royal Priesthood to also know a little bit about our wives and how they react.

And of course, if they ask you to sleep outside the home or lock you out of the bedroom, then what do you do? How do you get peace and how do you get back? And when that happens, more temptations come.

The World, the Flesh, and the Devil

And the temptations come through three big sources. The temptations come through the world, the flesh, and the devil. The world, the flesh, and the devil. And so, here's a little help for you to understand this.

And here is a demon fishing. And this demon is saying, I have the solution for your problems. I have the solution for your difficulty. I have the solution for your needs. Okay? And so, this little fat bass, that's you and me, okay?

And so, he comes fishing with a lure. And the lure wiggles nicely in the water. And the bass is sitting in the weed bed. And he's looking. He's looking at this lure. He knows something is wrong. I should not go and bite into this thing.

It's wrong. I shouldn't do it. But then he keeps on looking. And the lure comes a second time. And then the lure comes a third time. And the lure comes a fourth time. And then the fifth time it comes, the bass goes, whoa!

And he grabs that lure and hooks go deep into its mouth. And it might be porn. It might be anger. It might be addictions. It might be drugs. It might be any other overcoming sin that gets to you. Now, beloved, once that hook is deep in the mouth, once that hook is deep in your mouth, can you get it out yourself?

I have met so many men in denial who say, I can manage this. Okay? I can deal with this. I can stop whenever I want to. And then they fall again. And they cry out and they say, I'm full of shame. I have failed again.

I cannot manage. And, beloved, when you have that hook in your mouth, you are hooked. You need higher help. And now there's a wonderful thing here that even when Satan hooks you on that hook, there's only one way to get off.

And that is you need higher help. And so in the distance, there's another boat coming here. And in that boat, there is a game warden. And the game warden says to Satan, show me your fishing license. Where is your fishing license?

And Satan is going to say, I have none. I have none. And then Christ is going to say, give me that fish. Hand him over to me. And Christ takes you off the hook. And he lets you off if you want to be off the hook.

Christ is the solution. Christ in me is the solution. Even as the song said, ask the Savior to help you. Believe that he is not only at the right hand of the Father, but he's also inside of you. Because he's omnipresent.

That's a doctrine, a Christian doctrine, that Christ is not only in heaven, but that he's also inside each of us. And here are verses in scripture that help us. And I'll read those verses quickly. And here it says in 1 Thessalonians 4 chapter 3 to 5.

Therefore this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you should abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.

So, beloved, the solutions that we need are through Christ. And we cannot manage ourselves. And the other two passages are similar in context here. And now we're going to look at what happens actually in our brain.

Pornography, Addiction, and Sexual Purity

This is the outline of a man here. That's your brain here. And now in America, the statistics are that 70 of all men, including Christian men, are now hooked by pornography. I went to a pastor's conference with about 1 ,200 pastors and missionaries and Christian workers.

And there they say that about 50 of all pastors in the United States are now hooked. Beloved, the relationship with our wives is a natural and ordained relationship between us and God. It is a beautiful thing that God has given us.

And when we substitute it outside of marriage, then we have guilt, we try to repent, we try to turn around and we hide most of all because we are too embarrassed to admit that this is happening. And so here you have a brain.

The chemical that is released during your relationship with your wife is called dopamine. And during the act, there is a 200 spike. And the spike equals that of crack cocaine. And so it's something that is very, very difficult for us to deal with because it is very, very addictive.

And so, however, outside of marriage, the world now says it's okay. It's okay to commit adultery. It's okay to do whatever you think is right. And people say there's nothing really wrong if I have to relieve myself.

But scriptures say otherwise, beloved man. If you want to be a royal priesthood, if you want to be the kind of man that leads your family in the way that you ought to, you ought not to go outside the word of God and outside the help of the Holy Spirit and outside the help of Christ.

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh. And so when I say make no provision for the flesh, for some of you, you will not take your telephone or your computers to bed, okay? You're going to leave it alone.

You're going to put stuff in places where there's public access, where people can see you. And you pray, first of all, though, to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so here is some help that I have given you.

Freedom Through Christ

And so first of all, the first step, and if you're non-Christian, you need Christ Jesus as your Savior. And for those of us that are Christians, we have to learn this song. We have to learn this song because this song tells us that there is help through the Savior himself.

And I have found that to be true in my very own life. And in John 8, verse 36, it says,. Therefore if I myself make myself free, I shall be free indeed. Is that what that verse says? John 8, verse 36.

Therefore if the Son makes you free, the Son, Christ, Christ Jesus, the Son of the living God, he can make you free. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Therefore if anyone is in, in, what does in mean? It also means to be physically inside of him, to be one with him.

Because in John chapter 17, he prayed, Father, let them and you and me and them to be one in us. In us. So we can also be physically in Christ and Christ in us. And in Galatians chapter 2, verse 20, I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who lives. But Christ lives in me. So every moment of the day, every hour, I've got to remind myself that Christ lives in me. Now, here are some testimonies. Charles Finney in his sermon on how to overcome sin said,.

Every victory over sin is by faith in Christ. And whenever the mind is diverted from Christ by resolving and fighting against sin on your own, whether we are aware of it or not, we are acting in our own strength, rejecting the help of Christ and are under great delusion.

Nothing but the life and the energy of the Spirit of Christ within us can save us from sin. Now, Hudson Taylor, the great missionary statement to China, wrote in his spiritual secrets,. The exchanged life had to come to him.

It was no longer the I, he said. There was no thought of imitation now. It was blessed reality. Christ lives in me, he said. And how great the difference came afterwards, he said. There was no more bondage.

There was liberty instead of failure. There was victory. And then A .B. Simpson, the founder of the Christian Mission Alliance, wrote,. Years passed on. This is a good Christian now, okay? Years passed on and I found sin overcoming me and my temptations too strong for me.

I came to him, Jesus, a second time. He whispered to me, Christ in you is the hope of glory. Christ in you. Not just outside, but Christ in you. And he said, and I had the victory, rest, and blessing.

And he said, and so I would tell you, this precious little secret of Christ in you will help you. If you want to believe it, you may have it. And then my own testimony. And I'm going to tell you some things about me, not for pride, just for comparison.

Surrender and the Testimony of Deliverance

But I used to run a $900 million corporation. I used to teach at the University of Toronto. But I was also misused as a 10-year-old child, and I was hooked on porn. And there was no letting up. And what I'm telling you today is the truth.

That is the only way to be set free is through Christ himself. And then I had to go that second step myself, where I physically said to the Lord Jesus, Lord, I'm not always listening to your Holy Spirit, and I don't know what to do.

And then one day, these testimonies were brought to me, and I knelt and I prayed. And I said, Christ, I surrender to you fully. And surrendering for me is very hard. Actually, Pastor Roy said in his introduction, when I asked Edgar, he had to ask the Lord first.

I used to be in charge. It was my decision. It was my way. It was what I wanted. But now I surrendered, and I knew that that was not the way. All of the old life, all of the old accomplishments are like dung to me.

That's what the Apostle Paul said. Just dung, not anything worthwhile. Because there was that day when Christ saved me at the age of 62. I should be in hell today, and I should not be here. So Christ has saved me to the uttermost.

And that there is hope also for those that are addicted and cannot let loose. There is a way forward. Now, I also found that once I had Christ indwelling in me, the second step is victory through obedience to the written word of God and the Holy Spirit.

And Brother Allen and I did this skit where I didn't listen to the Holy Spirit, and so I sinned. And this has happened many, many times afterwards until I learned. Every time I fail, I keep in my diary a note of why did I fail, what happened.

And ultimately, it was always disobedience, brothers. So how do I overcome the world? Well, I overcome the world through faith. And in 1 John 5 .4, it says, For whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith.

Overcoming the World Through Faith

And then there's Psalm 119 .37, which says, Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things. Because as I look at television, as I look at the world, what it offers me, as I look at new cars, as I look at riches, as I look at all kinds of stuff, I'm tempted.

Everyone is tempted, okay? But in Psalm 119 .37, it says, Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things. Matthew 6 .24 says, You can't serve two masters, for either you will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and money. I used to serve money when I ran that corporation. Money was the number one thing. There was nothing else but money. And so, beloved, money does not give you happiness.

It does not fulfill the deepest longings of your heart. And then the second one is, How do I overcome the flesh? And overcome it by flight. Overcome the world by faith. Overcome the flesh by flight. 2 Timothy 2 .22 says, Run, flee also youthful lusts.

Don't say to God, I'm a strong Christian. I can manage. Don't do that. That's pride. Okay? You rely on him, on Jesus in you. And then Romans 13 .14, But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh.

If I make provision for the flesh, I'm going to sin, even in the middle of making provision for the sin. I used to cry out to God, Now stop it! You know, I allowed the door to open. Then I cry out and I say, God, stop it now!

I trust you. I love you. But I already had made provision for sin, and God let me go ahead and sin. Don't do that. Don't even let it get started. Don't go downhill. Job chapter 31, verse 1. I have made a covenant with my eyes.

Why then should I look upon a young woman? And what Job is saying here, Why should I look upon a young woman with lust? Sometimes you cannot help the first glance. You're not entitled for a second glance.

Okay? You're not entitled for a second glance. And the Lord will help you if you want to walk that way. And then overcome the devil by fight. James chapter 4, verse 7 says, Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil.

Submission has to be first. I have to submit to God. I have no victory on my own. Okay? I'm a strong man. I have strong convictions. But I cannot win this fight over sin. I cannot. I need Christ in me.

Confession, Spiritual Warfare, and Escape from Temptation

And then Revelation chapter 12, 11. And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives to the death. So even if you sin, quote 1 John 1, 9 and say, Lord, I have sinned.

Tell him what you did. And then ask him for forgiveness. Scripture says, He's faithful and just to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. And then go and give a testimony. Okay?

You are of the royal priesthood. You are called. You are elected. You are a Christian. And then as Brother Peter mentioned, Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10, we got to put on that help by God. And then God always will give you a way of escape.

First Corinthians chapter 10, verse 13 says, No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man. But God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able. But with a temptation will also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it.

Now, much of this message is in a video on YouTube. If you're interested to watch again the scriptures and some of the things that I said, you can watch this in a message. It's under Edgar Reich, R-E-I-C-H.

And the message is called A Revival in Victory over Sin. Edgar Reich, A Revival in Victory over Sin. So you can find that there. And then in closing, this is the last slide. We are to be in Christ, us in Christ, and Christ in me.

And then I need to surrender and be obedient to God. And beloved, that is the victory. And God says, Through his Son, whom I have set free, is free indeed. And that is Jesus Christ who said that.