Beware Of The "Second" Temptation

We want to be called Christian - we want to believe we’re Christian - while we’re still hanging on to the sinful lifestyle that the world offers. So we want to be SAVED, but we don’t necessarily want to be HOLY.

Here’s what the 2nd temptation does:

Distorts God’s Word.

The devil says, “You won’t die!” But that’s what God said.

Make God appear harsher than what he is.

God knows your eyes will be open. God’s not really as GOOD as what you think he is. He did it with the first temptation too - You really can’t eat of any of the trees in this beautiful garden? Wow - that’s pretty mean isn’t it? That’s an awful burden you have to bear. God is keeping a secret from you - he’s keeping you from knowing EVERYTHING. He knows something you don’t - that’s not very fair, is it?

The devil will always try to make you feel like the Christian life is a burden to bear, that the cross is so heavy.

My parents won’t let me ___________

My church wouldn’t like it if I _____________

I’m a Christian so I can’t ________________

It doesn’t take very long, once we start thinking that God isn’t all he says he is, to yield to whatever temptation lies before us.

I want to touch on five things that yielding to temptation always leads to, and then we’ll look at how to overcome temptation in our lives.

Yielding to the temptation, first and foremost, no matter what the temptation is - no matter what the enticement is - it will eventually, lead to:

SHAME - it will lead to shame-based thinking in our lives - and that will motivate us to do all kinds of things. Things we wouldn’t otherwise do.

That’s the second thing yielding to temptation does:

2) Leads you to do things you wouldn’t otherwise do.

Adam and Eve saw their nakedness, they were ashamed, so they sewed fig leaves together to cover up. They never needed to sew before! Here they were now, spending their time engaged in an activity that they wouldn’t ever have had to do.

Their spending their time in sewing, instead of in what God had for them to do - enjoying the garden - enjoying the fruit of their labor - naming animals - walking together.

Young people - the choices you make today, will determine your activities later in life. What I mean by that is that every sin you engage in now, the devil will use years from now to remind you of and try to make you feel ashamed. So you will need to spend more time and energy in keeping your thoughts under obedience to Christ than Christians who don’t have those sinful memories.

If you’ve only ever been with one person, you don’t have to work to shut out the memories of other encounters.

If you’ve never said an unkind word, you don’t have to replay the words you’ve spoken trying to forget the look on the person’s face that you hurt.

If you’ve respected other people’s property, you’ll never have the memory of the damage you’ve done and the disappointed look of those you love.