Tempting VS Testing
1 Corinthians 10:13 Monte T. Brown
March 18, 2009 Wednesday Night
Heart O’ the Hills
Scripture
13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. 1 Corinthians 10:13
Tempting
When I worked for Chance Coach, we manufactured small buses for public transportation. When we came out with a new model, we would have to send it to Altoona for testing.
The would push the unit to its limits trying to find all of the flaws in the design tempting every structural, mechanical, electrical, and hydraulical aspect of the unit trying to find any weakness. When the completed the testing the unit was useless.
In the same way Satan temps us to bring out all of our weakness and flaws and sometimes to the point where we are left useless
(13 Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. James 1:13-18).
Testing
At the Chance Coach plant, we would run our own testing on our units. However, instead of trying to find the units weakness and try to destroy it we would test it to find its strengths.
God test us to bring out our strengths and qualities
(1 James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.
2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9 Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation,
10 but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away.
11 For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.
12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. James 1:1-12).
Conclusion
Nothing tests the integrity of our faith like the temptation to fail.
That is why Satan’s temptations weaken us and render us useless.
We must remember that God never tempts us but he will test us and no temptation can overtake us when we are anchored to the rock.
We can yield to the temptations of Satan and be render useless or yield to the testing of God and gain strength.
The chose is ours!
