BEATING
TEMPTATION
Introduction
Temptation, as you will know, is not "a little surprise"
that Satan reserves for committed Christians. Everybody faces it. Perhaps it
has troubled you to find that temptations have not eased off since you became a
Christian. If anything, they have probably increased. Perhaps you have thought,
"If I'm still tempted like this, can I be a real Christian? Has anything
really happened?"
In the first place, temptation is not sin. It only
becomes sin when you yield to it. In the second place, an increase in
temptation is an encouraging sign that something has indeed happened. Your
commitment to Christ has made you a threat to the kingdom of evil. Satan, the
ruler of that kingdom, has had to redouble his efforts to drag you down.
But if God is all-powerful, why doesn't He see Satan off for good?
Or why doesn't He rob temptation of all its power? One day He will destroy
Satan for good. But He has not done so yet, because He has a very important
purpose in allowing us to be tempted. In this study we shall learn where
temptation comes from, and that the grace of God that we studied in the first
lesson is there to enable us to beat temptation. Learning to face it and
conquer it puts something into us.
Read James 1:1-14
God and temptation
Verse 13 of the reading teaches that God cannot be tempted, and He
does not tempt anyone. He may lead us into temptation (Matt. 4:1), but He is
always there, controlling and limiting it, and helping us to master it (1 Cor.
10:13).
The rebel ruler
Since becoming a Christian you have become aware that you are in a
spiritual battle. Before your conversion you were part of a rebel kingdom,
serving Satan. Once he was one of God's angelic rulers, but he rebelled and was
cast out of heaven (Luke 10:17-18). Satan's great aim, with his army of spirit
beings (Eph. 6:12), is to entice people away from God and get them to
serve him. He is called "the temper" (Matt. 4:3). He does this
by appealing to "the cravings of our sinful nature" (Eph.
2:1-3).
Satan's landing strip
The "sinful nature" (called "the flesh"
in older versions) is that within you that does not and cannot respond to
the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:17). It is like an enemy landing strip within you
that gives Satan an avenue to tempt you. Read again James 1:14. How do you
deprive him of that landing strip? That old nature of yours cannot be
reformed or changed, it can only be crucified through the cross of Jesus
(Gal. 5:24). When Jesus died on the cross that sinful part of you died with
Him. "If it's dead," you may say, "it won't lie down!"
Believe what God says, and you will find that it is indeed dead. It was only as
you believed that you came in to salvation. It wasn't automatic. Just so with
this: "count yourselves dead to sin" (Rom. 6:11).
From within and without
Temptations are of various kinds. There is the temptation to do
what you know to be wrong and the temptation not to do what you know to be good
and right (James 4:17). Satan uses various
methods. As well as appealing directly to our
appetites and selfish desires, he may use other people, as Potiphar's wife
tempted Joseph (Gen. 39:7), or as Peter tempted our Lord (Matt. 16:21-23).
Someone says something unkind, and you are tempted to give back in equal
measure. He uses your success to tempt you to be proud, or someone else's
success to tempt you to be jealous. He may use sickness, failure,
disappointment, opposition, things going wrong to tempt you to discouragement,
to accuse God of failing you. Like Peter when he denied Jesus, he may use your
fears to prevent you from being true to Christ.
HOW TO
HANDLE TEMPTATION
Here are six methods of handling temptation-and of making sure you
come out on top:
1.
Develop a
right attitude.
Recognize that temptation, though it comes from Satan, is one of
the "all things" that God works for our good (Rom. 8:28).
"Consider it pure joy" (James 1:2). Phillips renders this verse:
"When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives, my brothers,
don't resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends!" It is
"a time of need" that makes us call on God for His grace (Heb. 4:16).
There's nothing like temptation to teach us how weak we are and how strong God
is.
2.
Always be
alert.
The devil is a great deceiver and knows all the tricks of the
trade. "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation"
(Matt. 26:41). To be proud, careless, or cocksure of ourselves is to be heading
for a fall (1 Cor. 10:12).
3.
Keep your nose
out of what God says is forbidden territory, that is, where Satan
rules.
To get involved in things of the occult such as spiritism,
witchcraft, fortune-telling, horoscopes, and Ouija-boards is to wander into
enemy territory and risk being taken prisoner. You don't have to learn
Satan's "deep secrets" (Rev. 2:24), just as you don't need to
roll in the mud to know it's dirty!
4.
Don’t play
with fire.
Some Christians play with temptation as children play with fire.
Don't walk into temptation. Mother caught Joe sneaking in with a wet swim suit
after being forbidden to swim in a dangerous pool. When asked why he had
disobeyed he replied, "Satan tempted me."
"But why did you take your swim
suit?" Mother asked.
"It took it-er-in case I was
tempted!"
Romans 13:14b says "Do not think about how to gratify the
desires of the sinful nature." Pornographic
movies and magazines, video nasties, certain records, and anything that you
know STIRS EVIL THOUGHTS AND
DESIRES will mean walking into the devil's trap. Jesus said that you must cut off anything in
your life that makes you stumble and fall into sin (Matt. 5:27-30). Gouging
out an eye or amputating a hand means taking drastic action to stop looking at
or doing something that causes you to sin.
5.
Stand up and
fight.
This is how you deal with most temptations, that is, "Resist
the devil" and he will do the fleeing (James 4:7). But first you have to
"Submit... to God"-place yourself afresh under God's control. That
puts you on God's side, and then He will fight for you. Resisting the devil is
not done with human strength or determination, but with faith in God's power.
The fight is one of faith (1 Tim. 6:12). By faith you stand your ground, and by
faith you "extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one" (Eph.
6:13,16). When under fierce attack always call on the name of the Lord, and He
will intervene to save and deliver (Rom. 10:12).
6.
Flee for your
life.
This is the way to handle some temptations. Don’t stop and argue with the devil when he tempts you with sexual
immorality (1 Cor. 6:18); see how Joseph reacted (Gen. 39:11-12). Or with
"idolatry" (1 Cor. 10:14). An
idol is any person or thing that takes the place in your life that is
rightfully God's. Or with "love of money" (1 Tim. 6:10-11).
Or with "the evil desires of youth" (2 Tim. 2:22), such as are
mentioned in Romans 13:13.
Memorize:
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 (1 Cor. 10:13).
Excerpts:
From Living God’s Way
By: Arthur Wallis
