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OVERCOMING
TEMPTATION
Another of
the conflicts
within the
Christian life is the battle with temptation.
It’s comforting to realize that our Lord himself was
“tempted in all things, as we are and yet without sin.
(Heb. 4:15)
It’s also reassuring that 1Cor. 10:13 assures us that God
will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability to
withstand and yet many Christians have not experienced the
truth of this scripture in their lives.
Again, temptation is one of Satan’s tools designed to
keep believers from experiencing the abundant life.
Satan first
enters the picture as tempter in Genesis chapter 3.
In verse 1 we find, “Now the serpent was more
subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had
made. And he said
unto the woman, ‘Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of
every tree of the garden?”
Notice: The
tempter approached Eve.
He speaks first.
He causes her to feel that God is holding out on
them. Paraphrased,
Satan says, “You mean God won’t let you eat of every
tree?” Satan sews
the seeds of discontent.
Verse 2.
“And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of
the fruit of the trees of the garden…”
Now I’m not
suggesting that Eve sinned to engage the tempter in
conversation, but that was certainly the beginning of her
progression into sin.
I say ‘progression’ because we in fact program ourselves to
sin. Whether we are
tempted and act on that temptation immediately or only after
great struggle and resistance, we set ourselves up for
failure.
WE FIGHT
LIFE’S BATTLES ON THREE BATTLEFIELDS!
1.
Our Thought
Life
– (a loss here degenerates into…)
2.
Our Actions
– (a loss here degenerates into…)
3.
Our Habits
– (a loss here degenerates into
REPROBATION.)
In Mark
7:20-23 we find the basis for our suggestions. Proverbs 23:7
says, “As a man thinketh in his heart so he is.” If
we’re going to have victory over sin we must attack the root
of the problem - The Mind.
The way you respond to a temptation or challenge is a
photo-image of your thought life.
If you hit your finger and shout an obscenity, it’s
because you have already sanctioned that obscenity in your
thought life even if you had no intention of saying it out
loud.
ANOTHER OF
SATAN’S LIES IS THAT BEING TEMPTED IS IN AND OF ITSELF SIN!
Not so! Our
Lord was tempted and was without sin!
Being tempted is NOT sin; Yielding IS sin!
Let’s
continue in Genesis and use Eve as our case study of
temptation.
1.
SHE ENTERTAINED
THE THOUGHT… as
do we. (verses 2-5)
“so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food,”
2.
SHE
VISUALIZED
THE TRANSGRESSION…(she
saw herself eating the fruit)
“that it was pleasant to the eyes”
3.
SHE
COMMITTED THE ACTION IN THOUGHT!
(She fantasized the result)
Another way of saying this is that she enjoyed the
benefit of the action in her mind.
“and a tree desirable to make one wise”
4.
SHE
COMMITTED THE THOUGHT TO ACTION!
“she took of its fruit and ate”
See the
progression.
Now,
consider another case study, Matthew 3:13ff gives an account
of Jesus’ baptism but immediately after this experience came
Jesus’ temptations.
This happens in our lives too.
Immediately following our close encounters with God,
we experience our greatest challenges.
Chapter 4:1
begins the temptation accounts.
Each time the tempter came Jesus resisted and rebuked
rather than engaging him in conversation or debating him.
That Jesus had a legitimate need for food is an
understatement. He
had fasted for 40 days but when Satan suggested that Jesus
turn stones into bread Jesus resisted the initial suggestion
and did so with scripture.
Jesus did this each time.
Jesus resisted the initial suggestion and used the
truth of scripture to expose the lies of Satan.
What am I
saying? We cannot
entertain Satan’s suggestions, visualize the transgression
and fantasize the results and still have victory over
temptation. If we are
to have victory over temptation we must follow the example
of Jesus and resist at the outset.
There is no
temptation, NO MATTER HOW GREAT, which you cannot defeat if
you stop it in the thought stage.
But if you flirt with the idea…
There is no
temptation, NO MATTER HOW SMALL, which you will not yield to
if you follow through and fantasize the results of that
temptation!
Temptation
comes in areas of our own susceptibility.
Were we not susceptible, there would be no
temptation.
Temptation follows desire.
Conception followed by incubation results in birth…,
of sin in this case.
So
overcoming Temptation is a matter of STOPPING AND RESISTING
IN THE THOUGHT!
AuThor
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