Don't Tempt Me

There are a couple of ways people primarily react when they are faced with temptation. Some just give in to it. There are many in the world today who believe if it feels right, just do it and don't worry about if it is right or wrong, and so these people live like animals. Animals eat when they want to eat, sleep when they want to sleep, mate when they want to mate. And no wonder, we are taught at an early age in school that we come from animals and we are all just a more sophisticated ape.
Others try to fight temptation in the flesh but fail miserably. We can not fight temptation in the flesh. I heard a story of a little boy who was sitting underneath an apple tree in his neighbor's yard and his neighbor came out and asked him, "You aren't trying to steal one of my apples are you?" to which the boy replied, "no, I am trying NOT to steal one of your apples."

A better way is not to give in to temptation or to fight temptation in the power of the flesh, but to deal with temptation through the power of the Word of God. By doing this, we can actually turn our temptations into triumphs.

The key scripture is found in 1 Corinthians 10:12-14
"12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry."

I am going to present several things that will help you turn your temptations into triumphs. To help you remember, I am going to let each one start with the letter "S".

First is the Subjects of Temptation. Who is tempted? Look back at verse 12. Let him who thinks he stands take heed. This is telling us that we are ALL subject to be tempted. Just because we are saved does not make us immune from being tempted. I mention that to say that it is not a sin to be tempted. We know this because Jesus was tempted and He had no sin. This verse is basically a warning against pride. No one thing will make you a bigger sitting duck for Satan than pride. It was pride that made Lucifer, son of the morning, into Satan Prince of Darkness. The proud person is tempting Satan to tempt them.

Ok, that brings up a thought.. if God is so loving, why does he allow temptation to come upon us.. why doesn't He just kill the Devil? Because we then would not have the ability to be overcomers. Think about football. It would be much easier for a football team to go onto the field and cross the goal line if they went out at 2 am when there was no other team to defend them and they could run across the goal line as many times as they want. Why do they wait until the other team is there to cross the goal line? Because that is where the victory is. There is no victory in scoring when there is no opposition. And God has not called us to a life of ease, but to a life of victory.

Now notice the Source of Temptation. Look in verse 13, no temptation has overtaken you but such is common to man. None of us have harder temptations to deal with than anyone else. We have no special temptation designed for us. There are 3 sources of temptation... the world, the flesh, and the Devil.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:23 the Bible says, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Notice we are triune beings... body, soul and spirit. Also notice that there are 3 sources of temptation.. the world, the flesh and the Devil. Each one of the sources lines up with each one of our beings.

Before going any further, I probably should define what I mean by "the world". What is the "world?" I am not talking about the people of the world.. God so loved that world that he sent Jesus to die for it and if God loved that world, we should love it too. It is not talking about the things in the world... the rocks, the trees, the bees and the fleas... God created this world and said it was good. But the Bible says we are not to love the world. Let's look at a few scriptures to back this up.

1 John 2:15
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

Romans 12:2
"And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

James 4:4
"You adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity (or warfare) with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."

Ok so if it is not the people in the world or the things of the world, what is the "world"?

When the "world" is mentioned here it is talking about a system, an order, a philosophy. The greek word is "cosmos". It is entrenched and systematized evil (much like our government today) and we are not to love it.

The Bible mentions this in the Epistle of Peter. 1 Peter 3:3 states, "Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel." The word "adorning" is translated world in many other places in the Bible. We could just as easily read the verse as "Whose cosmos let it not be the fixing of the hair, the wearing of make up, etc.

That's why when a woman wants to put her face in order, she uses "cosmetics". The Bible is not saying it's wrong to fix your hair, wear jewelry and wear makeup. Some overly religious people think it's a sin if a woman wears makeup. I think it's more of a sin if some don't. If we say it's wrong to wear jewelry and make up we'd also have to say it's wrong to wear clothes because it mentions apparel. The Bible is obviously not saying in order to be spiritual we should go around buck naked.

What the Bible is saying is, whose cosmos or world, let it not be of the fashion store, the jewler etc.. Don't let that be what your world revolves around. So as not to make it look like I am picking on women, the same is true for men. Whose cosmos, let it not be sports, or your job, or your car. Don't let that world mold and control you. OK, here is an "ouch" moment but I am going to say it anyway, if Jesus Christ is not # 1 in your life, you are worldly. You have bought into this world's system. This is the world and is the first area of temptation. Let's call the world the "External Foe".

The next area of temptation is the Flesh. What is the flesh? It doesn't mean the epidermis. It means that old sinful nature, an inherited predisposition to sin. Sin is an inside job. For example, you don't have to teach a child to be selfish, you have to teach a child not to be selfish. We can not put all the blame on Satan. You have heard the expression, "The Devil made me do it." Well, I heard about a little boy who called his sister a dirty name, hit her with a broom stick and spit on her. His mother chastized the boy and said, "The Devil made you do that." The boy said, "The Devil made me call her a bad name and hit her with the broom, but spitting on her was my idea." I think we would be amazed if we sat down and counted up how many times our sin is our idea. So the flesh is the second area of temptation and let's call it the "Internal Foe". The World is the external foe and the flesh is the internal foe.

The third source is The Devil. Let's call the Devil the "Infernal Foe." The Devil wants to get us to sin and will encourage it as best as he can. The Devil uses the world and the flesh to get us to sin. Think of the world as being a match, think of the flesh as a pool of gasoline, and think of the Devil as being the one who strikes the match and throws it. This is the anatomy of a sin. So when we are tempted we are going to be tempted in the areas of the world, the flesh and the Devil... the external foe, the internal foe and the infernal foe. These are the sources of temptation and they are common to man.

Ok, on to the third "S". The Seat of temptation. Where will we be tempted? Not, how will we be tempted, but where? Go back to the scripture in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 where it talks about our body, soul and spirit be preserved blameless. When we are tempted it will either be in the area of the spirt, the soul or the body.

The world will tempt us primarily in the area of our soul. Ok, what is the soul. It is not the same as the spirit. The soul in the greek means psyche.. roughly it is our mind, emotion and will.. your ego. The world, this cosmos will primarily tempt you here. That's basically what it means to be worldly is to be on an ego trip if you are a worldly christian. A good biblical example of this is Abraham and Lot. Abraham gave Lot a choice of land and Lot chose the plush green valleys of Sodom in greed. The credit card industry flourishes because of this. The world has convinced us that we have to have it all and we have to have it now. So many of us will use the false god of credit to obtain it and then suffer the consequences later.

Ok what about the flesh. The flesh is not the body, but it wars against the body. Our bodies will be subject to temptations in the area of appetite, lust, laziness, violence, etc. The flesh uses the body as a vehicle of expression.

The best biblical example of this is David and Bathsheba. David was filled with lust in his body from seeing Bathsheba taking a bath. The lust desire overcame him and he gave in. The healthy sex drive he was given by God was under attack from his old nature and he gave in and fell.

Ok, now the Devil. The Devil wars against our spirit. The difference between the spirit and the soul is this: the soul is self concious and the spirit is God concious. We know God through our spirit. Plants have a body, but they don't have a soul and a spirit. Animals have a body and a soul, but no spirit. Animals have mind, emotion and will but they can't know God. Only man has all 3 and therefore, we are made in the image of God. Only man can know there is a God and only man can worship God. In fact, the Bible says that God is a spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit. The Bible goes on to say that our spirit bears witness with His spirit that we are children of God.

The Devil's main focus is to take our focus away from God. The Devil is not primarily going to try to get us drunk or to commit adultery. The Devil wants to drive a wedge between our fellowship with God. Let's look at another scriptural example. We have already seen that Lot is an example of the world tempting the soul, David is an example of the flesh tempting the body, and Peter is an example of the Devil tempting the spirit. In Luke 22:31-32 the Bible says, "31 And the Lord said, Peter, Peter, behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not: and when you are converted, strengthen your brothers." When Peter denied Christ 3 times, he wasn't on an ego trip, he wasn't tempted of a sexual sin, his faith faltered. Satan attempts to seperate us from God.

Finally, the last "S" is the sudbuing of temptation. How are we going to overcome temptation. 3 words to remember.. flight, faith, and fight.


The Flesh
When weu are tempted with the lust of the flesh, remember the word flight. God does not tell us to fight this kind of temptation. Instead, He tells us to flee (see 1 Corinthian 6:18, 10:14; 1 Timothy 6:9-11; 2 Timothy 2:22).
Have you read the story of David and Bathesheba lately? David wouldn't have ever given in to the temptation of his flesh if he'd had done as Joseph did when Potiphar's wife approached him. Compare those two stories (2 Samuel 11 and Genesis 39).
What did Joseph do? He ran for his life! What did David do? He lingered and watched Bathsheba. Then, he entertained his lustful thoughts that led him to commit two heinous sins in the flesh – adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah.
What is the application for you and me? If there is a magazine, a movie, a television program, or even a person that arouses thoughts in you that you know are wrong, then, we are to flee. Just get away. Saturate that place with your absence. Proverbs 6:27 says, "Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?" You and I are to flee.

The World
How do you and I overcome the world? The key word is faith. First John 5:4 says, "For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith." We are not told to fight the world, we are told to have faith in God instead. What does faith do? Faith makes God real to you. Let's return to First John: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 2:15). When we say that someone is "wordly," we are saying that this person loves the world and the things in this world more than God. The love of the Father is not in them.
Suppose you're driving and you notice the oil light blinks red on your dashboard. What do you do? Take a hammer and break the light? No! The light is a warning that your engine is out of oil. To solve the problem, you pour oil into the crank case. Right? Of course.
Now, if you are worldly, warning signs will illuminate that you have fallen in love with the world (which means you have fallen out of love with the Lord Jesus Christ). Don't fight the warning light.

The Devil
The key word in overcoming the devil is fight. James 4:7 says, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." First, we submit to God, then we resist the devil – not in our own strength, but in His strength.
Instead, most of us say to the devil, "If you'll leave me alone, I'll leave you alone." But he's not going to leave us alone until we resist him in the Lord Jesus Christ (see Revelation 12:11).
The devil cares nothing for your resolutions or good intentions. But he fears the blood of Jesus Christ. When the devil comes after us, we need to show him Jesus!
Get on the offensive. Tell Satan, "I bring His Word against you. I bring His blood against you. You are trespassing on my Father's property and in the name of Jesus be gone!" Flee the flesh. Have faith against the world. Fight the devil. "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might" (Ephesians 6:10).