Does The Spirit Lead Us Into Temptation?

Does the Spirit lead us into temptation?

Sunday March 04, 2001

We are going to take our scripture this morning from Matthew 4:1-11

Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,

6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

This scripture I would like to read again in the New Living Translation and hopefully it will be a little easier to understand.

Matthew 4:1-11

1 Then Jesus was led out into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted there by the Devil.

2 For forty days and forty nights he ate nothing and became very hungry.

3 Then the Devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, change these stones into loaves of bread.”

4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,

‘People need more than bread for their life;

they must feed on every word of God.’ ”

5 Then the Devil took him to Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple,

6 and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say,

‘He orders his angels to protect you.

And they will hold you with their hands

to keep you from striking your foot on a stone.’ ”

7 Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘Do not test the Lord your God.’ ”

8 Next the Devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him the nations of the world and all their glory.

9 “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will only kneel down and worship me.”

10 “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say,

‘You must worship the Lord your God;

serve only him.’ ”

11 Then the Devil went away, and angels came and cared for Jesus.

This seems to be the question of all times, does the Spirit lead us into temptation!

I know that a lot of the time we feel that we are being tempted by everything and by everyone around but that is not true.

God does not tempt us to sin!

No way, that’s satan’s specialty!

Now with that out of the way, we do need to know that God does test us at times.

Sometimes we might feel that the difference might seem subtle.

If you want to turn in your bibles to the book of James, we will read how temptations are different from trails.

Lets look at James 1:13

13 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:

And again in the new living translation, James 1:13

13 And remember, no one who wants to do wrong should ever say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else either.

We may find that on occasion God may test us by putting us directly into the line of satan’s fire!

Let’s read what the scripture says in, 1 Corinthians 10:12-13

12 If you think you are standing strong, be careful, for you, too, may fall into the same sin.

13 But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience.

And God is faithful.

He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it.