Temptation

A couple years back I offered to give somebody some verses on temptation, something which all of us struggle with on a daily basis. As I thought about it I did not want to be the one to just give verses and say, "Here you go. Good luck." I find that to be like teaching someone to swim by taking them a mile out to sea, throwing them in the water, handing them a waterproof chart of all the swimming techniques, pointing towards shore, and just leaving them there. I think it is sometimes our duty and privilege to figuratively or literally take someones hand and walk them through these things to make sure they understand it and also be there should they have any questions.

What I want to do here is go over a couple verses that deal with temptation, show three examples of people being tempted in the Bible, and talk about why they screwed up or how they fought the temptation. Then I want to talk about a couple tips and tricks that I have learned over the last eight years that have helped me. I want to make this very practical, because I know many of you already know much of what is right and wrong. We all want to do right but sometimes the big question is not what the good is we need to do and the evil we dont need to do but how do we succeed at doing the good and not doing the evil?

I think the biggest verse in dealing with temptation is the one I shared in my last message, I Corinthians 10:13, which says:

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."

First of all it says "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man." Basically what this means is that any temptation you have is not unique to you but that everybody faces it. Now there are some temptations that people are better than you at resisting, and there are some temptations that you are better at resisting but we still all face them. I pretty sure that given the right circumstance and emotional state all of us could fall to any temptation, even the ones we think we have complete control over. Secondly it says, "And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear." Basically God watches out for us. He doesnt allow any temptation to come our way that we have no chance of defeating. Thirdly it says, "But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." He provides a way out such that we can stand up under it. This is hard to recognize sometimes.

There is a funny joke my grandfather used to tell about a man who was standing ankle-deep in water and if he doesnt get out of there the water will be over his head and hell drown. While the water is still ankle deep a man in big truck came by and asked him if he needed a ride. The man said, "No thanks; God is going to save me." A little while later the water was up to his waist and a man in a boat came by and asked him if he needed a ride. The man again replied, "No thanks; God is going to save me." A little while later the water was up to his neck a man in a helicopter came by and he was asked for a third time if he needed help. For the third time he responded, "No thanks; God is going to save me." Well, needless to say he drowned and went to heaven before God. He complained to God saying, "God I trusted you to save me. Where were you?" God responded, "I sent you a truck, a boat, and a helicopter and you didnt take any of them." Sometimes the way God provides for us to stand up under temptation isnt what we are looking for. Many people start on the path to sin and they realize they are on the path. They say, God you said youll provide the way out. But yet they keep going to the point they commit the sin. They then complain to God about not providing the way out only to have God respond, I did provide the way out. You passed it up long ago.

The second verse is I John 4:4, which says:

"You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."

Here I just want to point out the comforting thought for those of us who know Christ that because we are saved and we belong to God, the Holy Spirit lives within us and he is more powerful than the Devil and we already have the power to defeat temptation. The bad thing is that when we sin its because we dont recognize that. We all dont recognize this at times.

Lets move onto a few Biblical examples of people coming under temptation and what they did wrong, or what they did right to escape it. Lets look at the first sin ever that is recorded in Genesis 3:1-7:

"1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "
4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves."

One thing to recognize here is the sneakiness and craftiness of Satan. He knows just how to hit you and he hits hard. One thing that he does that is told in this story is to get you to doubt what God has said. See what he says in verse 2, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" Well yes God did say not to eat from that tree in Genesis 2:17. Secondly notice also that he appealed to her pride. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

The second example is when King David fell into temptation and slept with another mans wife. This is found in II Samuel 11:1-5.

"1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.
2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, "I am pregnant."

There is one real glaring thing right at the beginning. David was not where he was supposed to be. "In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war..." David was the king. He supposed to be off at war, but he's sitting at home. He sees this woman and you can just imagine him seeing her for the first time and just standing there and staring at her, letting that thought just fester and eat at him and eat at him. He ended up giving into the sin and got the woman pregnent. If you read on in the chapter you will see that he tried to cover it up by sending for her husband, Uriah, to come back hoping he would sleep with his wife. They didnt have DNA back then so if Uriah had slept with his wife, David could have gotten away with it. That doesnt work so he sends Uriah to the front lines and tells his commander to make sure the man gets killed. So what started out as adultery, because he wanted so bad to hide it led to murder.

The third example is when Christ was tempted when he was in the desert. This is in Matthew 4:1-11:

"1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."
4 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written:
" 'He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"
7 Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
10 Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only."
11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him."

We see Satan coming to Christ and tempting him three times. Notice after each temptation the first words out of Christs mouth are "It is written..." Hes quoting scripture to combat the temptation. To the first temptation he quoted part of Deuteronomy 8:3. In the second temptation Satan quoted scripture to try and trick Christ, Satan quoted Psalm 91:11-12. Christ recognizing the misuse of scripture quoted back Deuteronomy 6:16. Finally to the third temptation he quoted Deuteronomy 6:13. So each time Christ used scripture.

Basically I have a few applications from the three of these. The first is to be wary of the ways and tactics Satan uses to tempt us. He lies, he appeals to our pride, and he makes us doubt what God has said. Secondly, be aware of situations that seem to make you vulnerable to sin and discipline yourself to look out for them. Sometimes we know our limits and sometimes we dont. A good idea here is to keep a journal of your sin. What you do is buy a cheap notebook and record when you commit the sins you are having the most trouble with, where you were, what time of day was it, how you were feeling at the time, what situation you were in when you committed the sin, and what you think you could have done to avoid it in the notebook. This can be very eye opening and will help you recognize patterns, your limitations, and bring to light situations you should look to avoid. Thirdly and finally memorize scripture. That way when you are tempted or feeling really bad you can have a scripture you can go to, just like Christ did when he was in the dessert. For example lets say Satan is really working on your self-esteem, and hes telling you that you are ugly and you arent worth anything. You can say I am beautiful and special because it is written in Psalm 139:13-15 that God created me and formed me:

"13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, "

A really neat way to help you memorize scripture that I like a lot is to buy some 3x5 cards. On one side you write the scripture, and on the other you write the reference (the book, chapter, and verse or verses). Its like making your own flash cards. The really cool thing about 3x5 cards is that they are small enough to fit in your pocket and on the dashboard of your car. That way if youre standing in line, sitting in a waiting room, or sitting in traffic, you can pull it out of your pocket or look down at your dashboard and the verse is right there.