Temptation 2

Temptation is more than we think.

Sometimes we tend to think that temptation is always when its the big alarming temptations for example your walking in the street and you see someone drop their wallet , you open the wallet and its full of cash and you think should I keep this or not?

Or when someone is offering you alcohol to drink and to have a big night out drinking , or even if someone good looking came up to you and offered sexual pleasure.

We sometimes tend to think that this is what temptation looks like and its true temptation can be alarming and huge temptations like that but if we think about it temptation is often gray areas or the little things that happen around us even supposedly small things like - knowledge.

We can ask ourselves “well whats wrong with knowledge?”

The first temptation that we know about is in Genesis 3:5

Genesis 3:5 NIV

5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

and this temptation was a temptation of knowledge. We always want to know things wether it can be knowing what we can get away with and still make it to heaven or knowing some gossip about so and so or knowing some confidential stuff at work sometimes couples in the world when they date they want to find out if they are sexually compatible before they take the relationship even further , we want to know whos going out with who.

The temptation of knowing is all around us and in our lives all the time but we dont see it as temptation because to us they are small things.

These are all the same temptations that Eve had to know like God.

Jesus temptation

Lets learn from Jesus’ temptations that he faced in the wilderness.

Whats buzzy about this is that we see that Jesus was infact tempted. To be tempted is to be attracted to something.

Jesus’ humanity caused him to be lured or attracted to sin because it says he was tempted so whats buzzy is knowing wow even the most perfect person who ever lived was tempted.

Hebrews 4:15 NIV

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

2. This verse shows that Jesus was tempted in every way just as we are and if we think about it our temptations are the most strongest when we have a habit of committing a particular sin or we have a certain sinful way of living, temptation of that particular thing we are doing is much stronger compared to something we dont usually do.

3. Temptation often feels like sin. If we are tempted to anger or tempted to lust or commit a lustful act we already feel like weve committed it because we have been thinking about it for a little bit now.

I remember there was times where i felt tempted to fall into watching pornography and just the thought of it and how i was going to pursue it made me already feel dirty , made me already feel like i had lost the battle and i had sinned just by thinking about it.

But something we have to understand is that its very possible to be tempted without sinning.

If we push the temptation away instead of falling into it that means we have resisted it and thats not sin because we didnt do it.

We can still have thoughts when we are tempted but it is possible for us to reject it and replace it.

We also see in Hebrews 4:15

Hebrews 4:15 NIV

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

Jesus says he can “sympathize with our weakenss” since he was tempted just like us.

As someone who could sympathize with us meaning he could understand us, he genuinely went through temptation and was still sinless because he faced it and rejected it without failing.

Internal vs External Temptation

Temptation can come from outside of us or within us.

Temptations to pride, lust or jealousy can come up inside us because of our sinful flesh or indwelling sin as people who live in the flesh. The inside.

We can rejoice at something that one of our brethren has or has achieved but our egos or our flesh tempts us to be jealous and to deep down not have any praise for them.

When we look at when Jesus was tempted we see that it was external temptations that he faced.

Matthew 4:1–11 NIV

1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” 10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Tempted to:

Turn stones into bread

Jump from the top of the temple

Worship Satan

We see that Jesus after fasting 40 days and 40 night he was hungry then Satan tempts Jesus to make these stones turn into bread. We can read this and be like “oh thats not really a temptation” but it is because he was telling Jesus to rely on his own strength rather than relying on Gods strength.

This is what Satan does he tempts us with material or physical things but at the wrong place and at the wrong time.

Satan then tells Jesus to jump from the top of the temple and that the angels will catch up and allow him to go down gently. Again at the start when i was talking about being tempted with knowledge we can take knowledge and we just want to know things but not live by faith. Satan took knowledge or things out of context and used it against Jesus.

The desires of knowledge and just wanting to know or to desire something new to satisfy us can make us live by sight and not by faith and make us use our knowledge in the wrong way.

Satan knows the bible more than anyone and he is a master of deception and twisting things. Without knowing we can want to know things for our own gain.

Jesus replies with saying “you shall not tempt the Lord thy God” showing he knows that he wont die if he jumps but he doesnt want to test God by his knowledge.

The last temptation Jesus faced is when Satan offers the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would bow down to him.

Satan offers Jesus a good goal or a good thing but earnt in the wrong way. Jesus does end up gaining the power over the world but not through bowing to Satan but by his death and resurrection defeating Satan.

When Jesus said no to Satan he was saying Yes to the cross.

Jesus resists the temptations that Adam and Eve and even what we face, the temptation to know just like God, the desire to be like God and the temptation to take what we want. All in Genesis 3:5-6

Genesis 3:5–6 NIV

5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

“Good” temptations

With everyone from Adam and Eve, with Jesus and with us Satan offers somethings thats sometimes good to our minds.

Like offering food to a hungry man or even making power attractive to us but when Satan proposes it to us he gives it to us in the wrong way and at the wrong time.

Theres a saying “if you had to sin to get it , its not a blessing”.

All temptation looks like this, it offers us something good like food, money, security, pleasure or even knowledge.

Adultery is not sin because sex is evil but because the one who commits adultery takes another persons spouse.

The part thats evil is the part where the adulterer takes something at the expense of another.

How can temptation get us if nothing “good” is offered? it cant. If we were tempted to eat bugs for dinner we wouldnt fall into eating bugs because its not appealing its yuck to us but if we are tempted to eat pizza or takeaways we would fall into it because its good to us.

Temptation doesnt usually have a little evil voice telling you that you should lie or steal but most most temptations come from what is attractive to us.

Jesus stood firm for us

So we can learn a few things from Jesus temptation.

Temptation offers something good that Satan proposes to us that we can receive in an easy way.

Thats how external temptations get us. We run late to work so were tempted to speed and break the law, we need something done so we lie so it happens.

Jesus never faced any internal temptations but we do from bad habits and patterns of how we live.

Jesus shows us how to resist temptation by using Gods word to reject it.

Jesus shows us that he understand what we face , he faced temptations , it seemed good as he was tempted by it but he turned it down. Us who are in Christ can do the same.

Jesus remained righteous in Gods eyes because he never sinned and he went to heaven still being faithful to God and he became our substitute giving us his righteousness so that we can stand before the Lord blameless.

Amen.