Temptation is something each of us faces everyday! Temptation is something that we battle on a daily basis. What is temptation? Temptation is a pivotal moment in time when we have the choice to do right or to do wrong based solely on our own choices. Temptation does not come from God. James tells us in 1:13-14 this about temptation: “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted, nor does He tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.”
We must remember first and foremost that temptation is a tool of Satan against our lives. Satan is the great tempter. He is the one who tempts us in order to make us stumble and fall. He is the one who tempts us and causes us to compromise our testimonies as believers and/or embarrass the name of Jesus. Temptation is an ongoing battle of evil within our own lives.
However, Rick Warren says this about temptation: “Every temptation is an opportunity to do good.” In other words, when we as believers understand temptation and overcome it, that temptation or that tempting moment in our lives can actually become a stepping stone toward spiritual maturity, rather than a stumbling block into sin. The truth about temptation is this: Temptation is as much an occasion to do the right thing as it is for us to do the wrong thing.
While Satan is using temptation as a weapon of mass destruction in your life, God allows temptation in order to develop your spiritual life. What God is doing is developing our character! Character development always involves a choice. Temptation provides that opportunity of choice for us every day when we have to choose between what is right and what is wrong, or when we choose whom we will follow. What God’s Word teaches us is that every time we overcome and defeat temptation, we become more and more like Jesus!
Today we want to learn to deal with temptation by learning to comprehend temptation. In other words, we want to discover how temptation works in our lives. Next Sunday, we will learn how to conquer temptation.
This morning we are going to learn to comprehend Satan’s pattern of temptation by looking at Genesis 3:1-13. This is where it all began. At the first moment of temptation in the garden, there was a failure to conquer temptation. Today, let’s learn from the mistakes of Adam and Eve in an effort to comprehend temptation. (READ PASSAGE).
I want you to understand first and foremost today that Satan is very predictable. His pattern and strategy for tempting us has not changed since the garden of evil. As we look at this pattern of temptation we can see the same pattern in the life of David when he committed adultery with Bathsheba, we can see it in the story of Achan who hid the treasure beneath his tent, etc. on and on we could go seeing this pattern. Mainly, I want you to see how Satan uses this pattern of temptation in your own life to cause you to stumble and fall!
From this passage, we learn that Temptation always follows a 5 step process:
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Steps of Temptation
I. THE STEP OF DISOBEDIENCE (3:6)
Disobedience . . . none of us likes to think ourselves to be disobedient, but we are. None of us likes to see ourselves as the defiant child ignoring God our Father, living our own lives, doing our own things, and missing His warnings, but we are. The truth of the matter is that each of us has been born with a disobedient, rebellious spirit and nature toward God and all that is good. You do not have to teach even the smallest child how to say “no” or how to disobey his/her parents. It comes to us naturally.
What we learn in Genesis 3:6 is that Satan, as a lying, tempting serpent is talking to Eve. Where was Eve? Eve was standing near the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Why was she standing near that tree? Back in 2:16-17, look at what God had commanded Adam . . . Now, God’s command is that you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but where is Eve? She is standing near the tree? Why? The answer is simple: DISOBEDIENCE. I wonder how many times she walked by that tree daily thinking to herself, “Why can’t we eat of that tree? What makes that tree so different that any other tree? Why would God put such restrictions on me? I just cannot understand what God is up to when He says for me to stay away from that 1 tree.”
When Satan finds her in order to tempt her, she appears from what we read in God’s Word to have put herself in a situation that made Satan’s temptation more effective. Do you think Satan’s temptation about eating from the tree had been as effective had she been standing in the river, or had been working in her house, or caring for the animals? No, Satan the tempter came to her at the point and moment of her brief disobedience (Same with David…Should have been leading his men into battle, instead he was where he wasn’t supposed to be doing what he wasn’t supposed to be doing when he was tempted by Satan over Bathsheba).
When we choose to disobey God, we are making ourselves the prey of Satan. We are allowing His temptation strategy to be effective in our lives. When we go to certain place, put ourselves in various situations, hang around with certain people, or engage in a variety of different activities which are prone to Godly disobedience, we have set ourselves up to be tempted, lured away, and our witness and testimony destroyed by Satan. It all began with simple disobedience. Certainly Eve wouldn’t fall to the strategy of Satan. After all, she walked with God each day in the garden. She had perfect communication with Him. How could she ever fall to temptation? Yet, she did and so can we! Look at the 2nd step in comprehending temptation . . .
II. THE STEP OF DESIRE (3:6)
Satan identified a desire in Eve . . . the tree, the fruit of the tree, knowledge, prideful power, and control over her own life. Satan is not all-knowing; however, he knows the desires of your life. He can easily identify those desires within you. It may be a sinful desire within you like the desire to harm others, the desire to get revenge, or the desire to control. It may be a normal desire, like the desire to be loved, to find value, or to gain the attention of others.
Temptation follows our own natural desires of disobedience and he simply whispers in our ear or places in our minds a seemingly harmless little thought that makes you consider the possibilities of giving in to an evil desire or to fulfill a legitimate desire in a sinful, disobedient way.
Satan whispers to some of you this morning, just as he did to Eve in the garden, and he says, “Come on now, you deserve it! You should have in now! It will be exciting . . . it will be fun . . . it will be comforting . . . it will be exciting . . . it will make you feel better . . . it will make you happy . . . it will make you popular . . . it will make you successful. . . and here is the best part, no one will ever have to know.” Where does temptation begin? Temptation does not begin outside of us. The temptation begins within us. If you did not have that internal desire, then the external temptation would not interest you in the least bit. Temptation always starts in your mind, not in your external circumstances or situations of life.
Listen to what Jesus said in Mark 7:21-23: “For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’”
Satan’s temptation strategy and the steps of temptation are evident.
III. THE STEP OF DOUBT (3:1-4)
Notice how Satan’s subtle strategy is to get Eve to doubt the validity of God’s Words. He does the same thing today in our lives. Satan wants you to doubt that God’s Word is true. He wants you to make you think there are not moral absolutes in this life. He wants you to believe that everything is just relative and ethics are to be determine by your own wants and desires.
Satan wants you to doubt today what Gods says about sin: “Did God really say you will die? Is this really wrong, even in our modern day culture? Did God really mean YOU are not to do this? Does God really mean YOU when he talked said we should not do these things? Isn’t this Bible just a little ancient and outdated for the 21st century? Surely you don’t believe all that Bible stuff do you?”
In Eve there was that moment of doubt about God’s Word. There was that brief moment of speculation that maybe she was exempt from obeying God’s Word and that for her there would be no consequences for disobeying. For just a moment she doubted God and she thought she might be the 1 exception to the rule. Why? Doubt!
Listen to the warning of Hebrews 3:12, “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.” The Contemporary English Version says it this way: “Watch out! Don’t let even thoughts or doubts make any of you turn from the living God.”
IV. THE STEP OF DECEPTION (3:4)
In John 8:44, Jesus says of Satan that he is a liar and “the Father of all lies.” There is no truth in Satan. He cannot tell the truth. Satan only works in telling ½ truths. What he tells you or plants in your mind always has a hint of truth to it, but in the end it is perverted, immoral, and sinful.
In a believer’s heart and mind, you can read what God’s Word says about a certain decision or situation. What Satan does is replace what you read in God’s Word with an all out lie. God gave a very clear command in 2:17, “You will surely die.” Satan’s response to Eve in reference to God’s command in 3:4 is “You will not surely die.” Satan is saying to Eve, “Come on Eve, you can’t believe all that religious stuff. You are smarter and more enlightened than to listen to that. You’ll not die. In fact, God is robbing you of some fun. He knows you’ll be wiser and can be your own God and make your own decisions. Eve, you don’t even need God. You can make your own decisions. You can get away with it. No one will ever know. It is going to solve all your problems. Just try it once. After all, you are not hurting anyone. You know everyone else wants to eat a bite of the tree also. Just wait, if you take a bite, Adam will take a bite, and before long, you’ll be the one in charge.”
Is Satan deceiving you today? For some he is telling you, “Hey, don’t worry. You can quit doing that anytime you want to. You aren’t addicted. Just try it once, it won’t kill you—you’ll not surely die. Everyone else is doing it, so it must be ok. They are doing it. Don’t they look happy? Who is going to find out anyway? It is just a little thing. It is just one time. Come on, you deserve it. You deserve better. Don’t let anyone tell you what to do or how to live your life.” Some of you today, rather that listening to voice of the Holy Spirit of God in your life, you are listening to the deceptive lies of Satan.
Disobedience, desire, doubt, deception, and the final step . . .
V. THE STEP OF DESTRUCTION (3:6-13)
Satan played on the desires of Eve’s heart and mind. He caused her to doubt the absolute truth of God’s Word. He has deceived her into thinking that she would be the 1 exception to the rule and that she didn’t need God. Now, she sins. Please understand me when I say that the temptation was not the sin. Temptation is not sin. Like we said at the beginning of the message, temptation is just as much of an opportunity to do right as it is to do wrong based on your own choices. However, when we choose to fall prey to and give into temptation that is where the sin comes in. That is how sin came into this world in the beginning. Eve ate from the tree. Eve shared the fruit with her husband and he too ate from the tree. Sin!
This is where some of you are this morning . . . your life is either being destroyed by sin, or you are be tempted to walk down a road that leads to the destruction of your life, your relationships, your influence, your testimony, or your witness for Christ.
Listen to some good news today about temptation. It comes from Paul talking to the believers in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 10:13. Paul 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 (the temptation).”
Will you be tempted? Yes you will always be tempted. Here is the question: Will you resist the temptation by the power of God? Will you stand firm for the Lord and say “no” to the strategy of the devil?
Today, there may be some sinful habit Satan continues to control you with, won’t you come today, confess it to the Lord and allow Him to help you stop? Maybe Satan is lying to you about your relationship with Jesus and lying to you about your sin?
