That's Tempting!

THAT'S TEMPTING!

You know, we get tempted with so many things and in so many ways, and isn't it a wonder why God allows us to be so weak and it is so easy to sin, and isn't it a marvelous curiosity that God allowed Jesus to be tempted by the devil in the desert, that He might know what we go through regarding temptation? Wouldn't it be interesting to look into this mystery of temptation and see what the Bible has to say about it?

"Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, 'Yea, hath God said, "Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"' And the woman said unto the serpent, 'We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, "Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."' And the serpent said unto the woman, 'Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.' And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." (Gen. 3:1 - 6) In the first verse the Bible says that the snake is cunning, but man does not know that. In verse 4, the devil tells Eve that God is a liar, because Satan tells her she will not die. The devil in the guise of the serpent compounds his attack on God's credibility by also stating that the day her and Adam eat of the tree, they will be like gods, and God is keeping that from them. Now as for the temptation that Eve gave in to, coupled with the words of the serpent, it is one of the three enmities with God, the lust of the eyes. You can find This in 1 John 2:16. The second area of temptation was to act on Satan's word and put their will above God's, thus putting themselves first over God. Lucifer's lie also gave another temptation irresistibility; disobedience of the will of God; rebellion!

There will always be temptation until the new heaven and new earth arrive. Ever since Adam and Eve, we have had temptation. Cain succumbed to the temptation to kill his brother Abel. The Israelites were prey of temptation in the desert. And here, Paul explains to the Corinthians that they will have similar temptations just as the Israelites in the desert, and I tell you now, we have new and more diverse temptations than they did.  Yet, they have the same ends as did the temptations of old.   "But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.   Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.   Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.   Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.   Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.   Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.   Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.   There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." (1 Cor. 10:5 - 13)   Now mind you that the way of escape may not necessarily mean relief from the temptation, but the power to tolerate and resist it.

I would suppose all if not most Christians know that Jesus was put to temptation Himself, and with all three enmities.   But of course, He did not sin, but the devil indeed tried!   "And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days He did eat nothing: and when they were ended, He afterward hungered. And the devil said unto Him, 'If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.' And Jesus answered him, saying,

'It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.' And the devil, taking Him up into an high mountain, shewed unto Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto Him, 'All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If Thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.' And Jesus answered and said unto him, 'Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.' And he brought Him to Jerusalem, and set Him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto Him, 'If Thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: For it is written, He shall give His angels charge over Thee, to keep Thee: 11 And in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash Thy foot against a stone.' And Jesus answering said unto him, 'It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.' And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from Him for a season." (Luke 4:1 - 13)   So first the devil tempted Jesus through His belly, then through His eyes, and finally, with the pride of life.   All three temptations against walking in the Spirit, right?

I brought up walking in the Spirit to foreshadow my next Bible passage: "Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.   For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." (Rom. 8:12 - 14)   The unsaved practice walking in the flesh, and thereby are they known to be dead.   But the born again do practice walking in the Spirit, and thereby also they are known to be alive, for they daily confess Him who saved them, Christ Jesus! Note I used the word "practice", and by using that word, I say well, because the Spirit and the flesh lock in a lifelong war, so long as a person be born again!   There are times a Christian is tempted and they give in, but God already put in place a way to be rid of that sin, and that is confession and faith in Christ's sacrifice, and that He rose indeed from the dead!

Now one might want to know if there is a weapon against temptation, and one might also question why it is that people give in to temptation, even the best of us.   Jesus gave that answer during His ministry: "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into

temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." (Matt. 26:41)   We need to keep presence of mind about temptation and sin, and pray.   We can pray for ourselves, but this is one dire need for us to pray one for another, and that is that the devil is asking God for opportunities against us.   I need pray for your protection, and you need pray for my protection.   "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." (James 5:16)   Okay, here's the command to pray for each other, now I want to show you chapter and verse that the devil indeed asks to attack us!   "And the Lord said, 'Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.'" (Luke 22:31 - 32) Here Jesus Himself not only tells Simon Peter of the devil's desire, but also speaks of His remedy of praying for Peter, that he may be protected, and this we ought do also for one another!

Paul warned the Ephesians about needing to be protected from temptation, and named those by which temptation is presented to all God's saints on earth: "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;" (Eph. 6:10 - 18)   Here Paul is explaining there is this great horde of demons who want fervently for us to fall to temptation and sin in as many sorts of ways as can be done, and we have this armor given by God, but we have to acquire it in the manner it is manifested, and we have to pray always, as the devil and his demons do not sleep, and this reinforces what I wrote for you to read earlier that we should pray for one another, for the devil and his demons indeed want to eat us up for lunch in sin!   We have all the truth in the Bible; it is a weapon!   Believers practice righteousness, we know righteousness from unrighteousness, we must use it!   The gospel of peace is a weapon against all temptation to abide in unrest, chaos, divisiveness, and war; we must employ it!   We have our shield of faith given by God when we were born again, we cannot let it down for darts of doubt to get by!   Let us always be in the word of God, which is the sword of the Spirit, which reminds us of all God's wisdom against temptation, but we must meditate on it every day, and the longer, the better!   Finally, we must pray for our fellow saints, our family in Christ, because they are able to succumb to attack if we do not ask for God to intercede on their behalf!

It was known shortly after Christ's death and resurrection of His temptations, and Paul mentions it to the Hebrews; "For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted...Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Heb. 2:18, 4:14 - 16)   Paul explains that Jesus understands temptation by His human incarnate experience, thus He understands also what we are going through and offers us grace and mercy as we need it!

James also wrote about temptation, and you may find it interesting what he wrote; "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.   But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing...Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him...Let no man say when he is tempted, 'I am tempted of God': for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed...Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded." (James 1:2 - 4, 12 - 14, 4:7 - 8)   Hope nobody feels beat up with what James wrote, but he does a lot of explaining about temptation.   #1, temptation works patience, and as one gains command over beating temptations of all kinds, one gains also spiritual maturity.   #2, standing the tests has a reward promised by God.   #3, If you are tempted, don't blame it one God, as though He offered it and said, "Here, buy into this".   No, we invoke temptations from within, our own selves, our own ego, from there comes the power to be tempted, and excusing one's self demonstrates that person doesn't know about God and the very nature of temptation.   #4, temptation is a sidetracking to the old nature, a seduction to be again walking in the flesh.   James urges they who are tempted back into practicing a sin to turn to God, pray, pray, pray, and I tell you, it is also good to ask your family in Christ to pray for you!

"Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:...The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:" (1 Pet. 1:6, 2 Pet, 2:9)   While temptation is a bother, and a challenge to be dealt with, yet we can rejoice knowing we have a secure position in salvation because of our faith in Christ Jesus.   Peter says in his second letter that God knows how to get us out of temptations, and we also should know who read His word which is the holy Bible that we can come to Him with whatever trouble we have, whether it is temptation, or even if we have succumbed to a temptation and thus sinned, it is written also that He is faithful to forgive when we confess!   But he notes too that the unbelievers will pay, pay, pay for enjoying temptations into all diverse ways of sinning, and no matter how much they try to excuse their unbelief, they are so eternally toast for it!

The first letter of John has some words concerning temptation, and I have published a previous Bible study on what he said, and even in this one, I touched on the scripture I will once again bring to you: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.   For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." (1 John 2:15 - 16)   Remember that I wrote of Jesus being tested on these three points of enmity when He was in the desert?   Because He was tempted in these three ways, so we are tempted in variations of all kinds that are suited to us, just as His temptations were suited to Him!

"Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error." (1 John 4:4 - 6)   False teachers will tempt us in our lifetimes, and I have heard many of them, but I always have used the sword of the Spirit, the shield of faith, and the belt of truth, and every false teacher that came to me I defeated in every lie they tried to get me to believe.   I have obeyed the word of the Lord given to Joshua, I have taken it upon myself just as Joshua was to do the same: "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." (Josh. 1:8)   I have indeed had good success, for no debate with any false teacher did I lose, because the word of God, His holy Bible, I used as my sword of truth and the Spirit, and none could prevail against it!

I will post this last scripture to God's glory; "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen." (Jude 1:24 - 25)   Let us not fall into temptation!