A. NINE STATEMENTS ABOUT TEMPTATION
1. Definition of temptation: something that seduces or has the quality to seduce, i.e., synonyms: bait, lure, snare, decoy.
2. Everyone will be tempted, no one is immune.
3. To resist temptation, we must know its nature. “An attraction or allurement to sin against the law of God.”
4. The end result of temptation is death. “Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (James 1:14-15).
5. God does not tempt us to sin. “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’” (James 1:13).
6. Temptation begins in the mind. “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve . . . so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3).
7. Everyone has different weak points and strong points, temptation aims at your vulnerable weaknesses. “Temptation fits the nature of the one being tempted” –Oswald Chambers
8. It’s silly to say good people are not tempted to do bad. No one knows how bad they really are until they try to be good without the help of God.
9. No one has struggled to the last ounce of strength. “You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin” (Heb. 12:4).
B. OUR EXCUSES WHEN TEMPTED
1. Everyone’s doing it.
2. No one is perfect.
3. God will forgive me, so I might as well do it.
4. God wants us to have a little fun.
5. I didn’t think it was sin.
6. Blame: “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat” (Gen. 3:13).
C. WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT OUR ENEMY?
1. The tempter. What is one name of the Devil? “The tempter had tempted you” (1 Thess. 3:5).
2. We are not striving against an influence or evil power, but against a person.
3. He wants to destroy us. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
4. Sin originated with the Devil. “The Devil has sinned from the beginning” (1 John 3:8).
D. WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT CHRIST’S TEMPTATION?
1. Jesus was tempted. “He was . . . tempted of Satan” (Mark 1:13).
2. When Jesus was weakest. “When he had fasted 40 days and nights” (Matt. 4:2).
3. When Jesus had no human support. “He was there in the wilderness . . . and was with the wild beast” (Mark 1:13).
4. Every part of Jesus was tempted. “He was in all points tempted like as we are” (Heb. 4:15).
5. Jesus was tempted to do what God could do. He was not tempted to do evil things. “God cannot be tempted with evil” (John 1:13).
6. Jesus was victorious. “In all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15).
E. VICTORY IS POSSIBLE: YOU CAN RESIST
“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 Cor. 10:13).
1. Joseph. “The master’s wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me” (Gen. 39:7). Joseph responded, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9).
2. Daniel. “Purposed in his heart . . . that he might not defile himself” (Daniel 1:8).
3. Job was told, “Curse God and die” (Job 2:9). But Job resisted, “In all this Job did not sin with his lips” (2:10).
F. HOW TEMPTATION GETS TO YOU
1. Desire for something contrary to the law of God. “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate” (Gen. 3:6).
2. Thinking about the object. You think about evil. “When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them.”
3. Development of a plan to have the object.
4. Temptation starts in your mind, stirs your emotions, and becomes sin by your choice or will.
5. Willing to put the plan into action and acquire the object. “Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt. 5:28).
6. Physical movement to possess the object.
7. Satisfying the desire by possessing the object.
