Sermon Tone Analysis

! I. THE PROBLEM: "so that you will not fall into temptation."

A little boy named Bobby desperately wanted a new bicycle.

His plan was to save his nickels, dimes and quarters until he finally had enough to buy a new 10-speed.

Each night he asked God to help him save his money.

Kneeling beside his bed, he prayed, "Dear Lord, please help me save my money for a new bike, and please, Lord, don't let the ice cream man come down the street again tomorrow."

We all struggle with temptation in one form or another.

Jesus tells us in this passage that we have to be smart to outwit the temptation that comes our way.

To some this might seem strange.

As an unbeliever I never met a temptation I didn't like.

The Bible describes unbelievers as inventors of new ways of doing evil and they encourage others to do them.

Rom 1:30-32

But, now that I have come to Christ, all that has changed.

Temptation has become an enemy to all the better things I have come to value in life.

So, when I come to a passage like this one which not only warns me of temptation but gives me the key to overcoming it, I want to pay attention!

!! WHAT IS TEMPTATION?

Enticement to sin

"Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation.

For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak."

Mk 14:38 LB

"Achan replied, “It is true!

I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel.

This is what I have done: When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted ("I wanted them so much" GN. "I desired them" Youngs) them and took them.

They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”"

Jos 7:20-21

Definition: "but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.

Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin." Jas 1:14-15

!! OVERCOME, THEY SIN AGAINST GOD

This become a moral failure for the Christian

Temptation is not a sin.

He warns us against temptation because it is then we can do something about it.

After we sin it's too late.

!

II.

THE REALITY: "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak"

!! THE SPIRIT IS WILLING

"Peter declared, 'Even if all fall away, I will not.'"

v.29

"Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you."

v.31

"Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death."

Lk 22:33

"Peter asked, 'Lord . . .

I will lay down my life for you.'"

Jn 13:37

"Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping.

'Simon,' he said to Peter, 'are you asleep?

Could you not keep watch for one hour?'"

Mk 14:37

It is so easy for us to mistake our good intentions for strength.

!! BUT THE BODY IS WEAK

Though they are earnestly desire to do what is right, still they must contend with the weakness of the flesh and its inability to carry out those desires.

Even though our sinful nature has gone into remission, it still causes considerable havoc in our daily lives.

"I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.

For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing."

Ro 7:18-19

"For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.

They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want" Galatians 5:17.

The flesh would like to oust the spirit and regain complete control of the personality once again.

!

III.

THE SOLUTION: "Watch and pray"

!! A. WATCH FOR THE APPROCH OF TEMPTATION

Jesus says to keep watch, like a army sentry would, looking for an approaching enemy.

"Watch your life and doctrine closely.

Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers." 1 Ti 4:16

!!! Watch for the obvious temptations of life

"Do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature."

Ro 13:14

"Don't let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires."

Ro 13:14 LB

Know your besetting sin

"let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles."

Heb 12:1

!!! Watch for coldness of heart

"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.

Who can understand it?"

Je 17:9

Jesus warns the church of Ephesus about having "lost their first love" Rev 2:4, and the church of Laodicea for having become luke warm in heart.

Rev 3:15

Speaking of the tribe of, "Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretence.”

Jer 3:10

!!! Watch for the enticements of the world

"Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.

For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions.

These are not from the Father, but are from this world." 1 Jn 2:15-16

"The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful."

Mt 13:22

!!! Watch for the "sins of attitude"

Sour, critical, angry, pessimistic, cynical, gloomy, attitude.

A person caught in a "sin of attitude," can find a thousand reasons to justify their gloomy outlook.

But that gloom is like a depression, it affects every other outlook in life.

When a person has a significant failure in life and becomes discouraged about it, that's is normal.

By God's help, they work through the discouragement, adapt to it, pick up the pieces and move on, they are able to maintain a healthy attitude.

But when the discouragement is not resolved, it begins to color the whole life.

When that incident is allowed to make a person discourage about all of life, it has become a trap, and soon becomes a "sinful attitude."

As it is pictured in the classic, "Pilgrims Progress" this person has fallen into the "Slough of Dispond."

A dominating sinful attitude will not allow us to experience the positive emotions of life; principally: love and joy

Jesus went through a thousand discouragements and setbacks, yet he remained in a healthy attitude towards all of life.

His attitude is to be our goal, and the measure of how we are doing?

!!! Watch for Satan's Attack

Peter learned this lesson in the garden of Gethsemane, "Be self-controlled and alert.