Temptation
God knew from the beginning that man would never live up to the pressure of temptation.
Gen 6:5 The Lord saw …every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.
When discussing our faith, spiritual is always a factor. The world represents darkness and sin. The story of Egypt is a Shadow: parallel to being born into the world.
Whether we understand it or not, Born again believers walk through the spiritual realities of our faith. The enmity between light and darkness in us. The struggles of the flesh vs. the Holy Spirit. Through life we will encounter situations that will test our faith. It’s how we respond to those tests that we learn our strengths and weaknesses.
The word for temptation in the following passage is to test.
NT:3985 peirazo (pi-rad'-zo); to test (objectively), i.e. endeavor, scrutinize, entice, discipline:
James 1:13 When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Note the steps: First come’s the test. You’re enticed. Your shiny rock, Something that triggers an emotional reaction. The Holy Spirit will let you know as you encounter them.
Your response will determine if this is a strength or weakness. Will you turn away, or will you be dragged away and enticed (entertain those thoughts)? When you entertain those thoughts, desire is conceived giving birth to sin. Jesus says this is about the heart.
Matt 5:28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully
has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
When we give room to temptation in the heart, when we think on or consider that path, it is sin. When we act on that temptation it is sin that leads to death.
Watch this play out in the Garden. This is a SPIRITUAL LESSON. Put yourself in the place of Eve. From the beginning Satan is trying to separate man from God.
Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"
4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of 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.
Desire is conceived: The serpent enticed Eve to sin. He got her to focus on the tree. Rather than shake it off, she entertained those thoughts. It took root. She acted on that temptation. The serpent does not reside with truth. He lied. He deceived her. “You will not die”.
Don’t be surprised that you struggle with sin and temptation. When Israel was in bondage to Egypt, they learned the ways of the Egyptians. When we are raised in a dark world we are affected by living in darkness.
We followed after the things of the world. Those became our Idols.
Gal 5:19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
God cannot be tested by evil nor does he test anyone. God does not put us in a place of testing. As we walk through life we will encounter situations that will test our faith. Just as any parent watches their kids, God watches to how we respond in times of testing. In those times of testing you will find your strengths and your weakness. No two people are alike.
James 1:2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
Paul understood shiny rocks. Even the pillars in the church can struggle. He was a man of standing within the church. Chosen by Jesus himself. Anyone would envy the encounters he had experienced. Yet he struggled. He was human.
2 Cor 12:7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
We find a clue to his struggle in his letter to the Romans.
Rom 7:8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me,
Ex 20:17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."
OT:2530 chamad (khaw-mad'); a primitive root; to delight in:
Listen to his struggle…
Rom 7:15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 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.
19 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. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. (The flesh acting out)
21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!
We don’t know what he was coveting. It doesn’t say he acted on it. But
his heart was afflicted by it. That’s the broken and contrite spirit God is looking for. This is where we learn about amazing Grace.
Connect the dots:
We all have a thorn in our flesh. We all struggle sin, with a weakness. Lust, anger, greed, arrogance, hate, etc. Paul’s Thorn in his flesh goes back to the curse. Think Spiritual….
Gen 3:17 To Adam he said… "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
Rom 11:32 For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
It would be the Messiah that would redeem us from the curse.
Side note…
Matt 27:28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him.
Is it coincidence that they used a crown of thorns? Or was it another fulfillment?
Gen 22:13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided."
Gal 3:13 Christ
redeemed us from the curse
of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."
Jesus was tempted yet he was without sin. It doesn’t mean he didn’t feel the pressure of temptation, but he always responded using the word of God. His heart was purely devoted to the father.
Heb 4:14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Some will struggle in their weakness. Like Paul, we don’t understand why we do what we do. It’s the sin nature. We are being deceived to follow the desires of the flesh. Satan distracts us. We lose focus on the reason we come to faith. Our heart turns back to Egypt.
James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Come near to God and he will come near to you.
1 Cor 10:12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! 13 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.
Heb 12:4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
"My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."
Like Paul, we don’t understand why we do what we do as we struggle in our weakness. It’s the sin nature. We are being deceived to follow the desires of the flesh. Satan distracts us. We lose focus on the reason we come to faith. Our heart turns back to Egypt.
Jesus was tempted yet he was without sin. It doesn’t mean he didn’t feel the pressure of temptation, but he always responded using the word of God. His heart was devoted to the father.
James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Come near to God and he will come near to you.
It’s about the heart. Be real with God. Acknowledge your weakness. Take them before the throne. Refocus, remember the reason you came to faith. God loved us and gave his son his creation. He always provides a way out of sin. Be prepared for distractions as we walk through our desert experience as followers of Christ.
Heb 2:17 For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."