Temptations - are you struggling with temptation?

Matthew 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Jesus was led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness where He fasted for forty days. The devil tried to take advantage of Jesus in His hungry condition. We can imagine that after having been without food, Jesus's physical body will have been quite worn down. So satan tries to tempt Jesus into caving in to his own physical needs. But Jesus has just spent days in communion with the Heavenly Father, so even though in His body, he is in need of nourishment, He is strong. Jesus rebukes and says : Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Satan continues on with other temptations but Jesus remains firm and strong and never gives the devil even a bit of ground and the angels come and attend to Him and take care of Him. Matthew 4:11  Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him

Many times when people are discussing temptation, and trying to justify falling into temptations you will hear them say - Well, even Jesus was tempted, but He was God so, of course He didn't sin. That is true - Jesus is God and He didn't sin.
There are two aspects of temptation that I would like to address. The first is  the real definition of temptation and secondly standing strong in the face of temptation.

1) What is the definition of temptation?
The answer is found in James 1: 14-15  where it says : But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Temptation is the act of Satan presenting something unrighteous (something that he thinks you might desire) before you, perhaps with a thought in your mind or a picture in a magazine or on TV.  If you have made the decision to live faithfully for the Lord you will have absolutely no desire for whatever it is that satan places before you. You will honestly say No, I do not want that, I do not need that and you refuse to take a second look or toy with the thought at all. It is awesome if  you can quote a Bible verse at such a time since satan cannot stand against the Word of God. That is what it means to not sin in a temptation.
If on the other hand, satan places a thought into your mind or puts a picture in front of you and you desire it in your heart- you have already sinned and you need to repent before God even though you have only sinned in your thoughts and desires at this point.  At this point lust has been conceived and sin is present. When not dealt with, this then will lead to death - spiritually and in relationships, and sometimes actual physical death.

How to Stand Strong against Temptation?
Let's think back to Jesus in His temptation experience. Jesus had just spent 40 days with God so though He was weak physically, He was strong in His Spirit. If Jesus needed to get away from people and busyness of life and spend time with His Heavenly Father - how much more do we need to get serious about spending time with our Heavenly Father. The closer we walk with the LORD,  the more victory we will experience in every area of our life. So we need to daily, ( I mean daily) spend time in the Bible and become quiet before the LORD and allow Him to soak and saturate us with His Word and in this way His desires become our own personal desires. The more we have with the LORD, the less we want of the world and it's useless pleasures. We need to get Scripture into our minds so that throughout our day, we are thinking and meditating on the things of the Lord. We need to have Scripture in our mind and in this way we can quote it and Satan cannot stand against the Words of the Bible and He must flee.
Our desire becomes to do only that which pleases the LORD and brings glory to Him!!
Psalm 37:4  Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

Watch and Pray - Sunday Sermon Review

Sunday Sermon Review from my home church I attend regularly. We are continuing on in our Matthew series. This Sunday's sermon was from Matthew 26: 31 - 46 with the focus verse 41 being verse where it says:   Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.


Matthew 36: 31-46 

31 Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.

32 But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.

33 Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.

34 Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.

35 Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.

36 Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.

37 And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.

38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.

39 And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

40 And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?

41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.

43 And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy.

44 And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

45 Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

46 Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.

Here are my sermon notes:

We have come to the climax of the book of Matthew. The darkest part of a story is the climax.

Things don't always work out as we had hoped or expected. There is loss of hope and we experience pain.

Jesus went to the garden of Gethsemane to pray. He is troubled and He is sorrowful. He calls on the disciples to pray with him. They fall asleep though He urges them to "watch and pray!" These are words for all of us - Watch and Pray!

How do we watch and pray?

We must remember that when we pray we are calling out to our Heavenly Father - our Abba that is our "Daddy".

We are to pour out our heart to our Heavenly Father.

Why would you hold back? Our Heavenly Father has a furious love for his children.

Jesus prays " nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt".  Jesus is driven to glorify God. He has learned obedience as a Son as we learn in Hebrews 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

How can it be the Father's will that Jesus would suffer?

Jesus is fully human and fully God. Jesus chose to suffer and die for us out of love for us. The human side of Jesus does not want to go through this but He prays "  not as I will, but as thou wilt". He submits to the will of our Heavenly Father.

Prayer is about coming to accept the will of the Father.

Bring everything to Him. We need to have the same attitude as Jesus had.

Some people resist submitting to the Father.

Our flesh needs to die -  our flesh needs to be exposed. We need to walk in the Spirit.

Jesus is overwhelmed to the point of death. He pleads for a different way but He submits to the will of the Father.

Ask your Heavenly Father for protection from temptation.

To watch means you make a plan to help you to avoid falling to the temptations. Do what it takes to remain faithful to our Lord Jesus, to remain faithful to the will of our Father in Heaven.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I once heart Woodrow Kroll pray this pray and I thought I would make it my own: 

Heavenly Father - Your will be done, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else.

Amen

Temptation - Sunday Sermon Review

June 2, 2013 Sunday Sermon Review
Topic - Temptation
Speaker - guest speaker Mr. Niko Engbrecht

I would like to suggest you also study the blogpost on temptation that I wrote in January 2013. You can link to the post here Temptation blogpost

Here is some of what Mr. Niko Engbrecht said:

This is an important topic - Temptation
God frees us.
Satan uses temptation in our lives.

The text  for today is:
 1 John 2:15-17  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.

 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Mr Engbrecht said that he uses the KJV.

There are three categories of temptation.
1) the lust of the flesh
2) the lust of the eyes
3) the pride of life

Temptation is a desire to do something that is not the will of God. You have the choice to give in or to not do it. It is your decision. You have a way of escape. You do not have to sin.

Why do we get tempted?
James 1:13-15  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

*God does not tempt - you cannot blame God
* it is our own fault - the devil will seek to tempt us where we are the most vulnerable, 
* the devil will attack where you are vulnerable
* the devil is sneaky, he does not like losing so he comes in the back door
* it is our choice to give in or to be strong and stand against it

Jesus was tempted in each of the three categories of temptation. 
 Jesus withstood them all. Jesus was 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness being tempted by the devil.

1) Lust of the Flesh - Jesus was hungry, this was a temptation of the flesh. Jesus withstood this
Matthew 4:3-4 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Our application of lust of the flesh - doing things that make us feel good without looking at God - temptation may be for drinking, smoking, doing drugs, boredom, video games, 
We need to be reading the Bible, spending our time in fellowship with other believers, volunteering. There are a lot of souls that need to be brought to Jesus still. Find something to do that will expand the kingdom of God.


2) Lust of the Eyes - the devil offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. This was the temptation of the eyes. Jesus quoted Scripture. 
Matthew 4:8-10 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

Application - men looking at the ladies with lust have already committed adultery. This is a sin against God.
 Ladies please help the men in this area - dress modestly don't wear the short shorts and skirts etc., examine yourself.
God wants a woman to profess godliness being holy and self controlled. Be modest in shopping jewelry and clothing.
We need to be loving God and obeying his commandments. Study the word of God and apply it!


3) Pride of life -  You shall not tempt the Lord your God.
Matthew 4: 5-7 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

Application - Don't sell your souls to the devil - 
music and movie industry. Many popular celebrities and movie stars have sold their souls to the devil. They openly admit it. Why would we as Christians follow them?
Don't follow the celebrities - Put God first in your life, Study the word of God so you will know it.
Mr Engbrecht stressed the importance of reading and studying the Bible and made this comment " I love the Bible - it has the answers to everything".
Proverbs 9:10 - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding

Teach your children -What is our strongest weapon against temptation? It is to quote Scripture. Jesus quoted Scripture passages from the Old Testament to the devil.
Jesus was prepared with Scripture. - quote Scripture to yourself and to the devil, then we will not take the devil's bait. When we are saturating ourselves with Scripture there is no room for temptation. We are not hungry for temptation. Fill your heart with Scripture every morning. Develop an intimate relationship with Jesus. Then temptation and sin will have no room in our lives. If we fill our minds with worldly things we will drift away from the Lord. We will lose our desire for God and we fall into sin.
Ask God for guidance and for forgiveness.

We are to hunger and thirst for God - read and study the Bible by yourself and with others.
Examine yourself if you are in the faith - having no hunger for the word of God is an indication that you are in need of seeking Jesus for salvation.

Matthew 7:7-8  Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Temptation - What is it really??

Matthew 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Jesus was led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness where He fasted for forty days. The devil tried to take advantage of Jesus in His hungry condition. We can imagine that after having been without food, Jesus's physical body will have been quite worn down. So satan tries to tempt Jesus into caving in to his own physical needs. But Jesus has just spent days in communion with the Heavenly Father, so even though in His body, he is in need of nourishment, He is strong. Jesus rebukes and says : Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Satan continues on with other temptations but Jesus remains firm and strong and never gives the devil even a bit of ground and the angels come and attend to Him and take care of Him. Matthew 4:11  Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him

Many times when people are discussing temptation, and trying to justify falling into temptations you will hear them say - Well, even Jesus was tempted, but He was God so, of course He didn't sin. That is true - Jesus is God and He didn't sin.
There are two aspects of temptation that I would like to address. The first is  the real definition of temptation and secondly standing strong in the face of temptation.

1) What is the definition of temptation?
The answer is found in James 1: 14-15  where it says : But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Temptation is the act of Satan presenting something unrighteous (something that he thinks you might desire) before you, perhaps with a thought in your mind or a picture in a magazine or on TV.  If you have made the decision to live faithfully for the Lord you will have absolutely no desire for whatever it is that satan places before you. You will honestly say No, I do not want that, I do not need that and you refuse to take a second look or toy with the thought at all. It is awesome if  you can quote a Bible verse at such a time since satan cannot stand against the Word of God. That is what it means to not sin in a temptation.
If on the other hand, satan places a thought into your mind or puts a picture in front of you and you desire it in your heart- you have already sinned and you need to repent before God even though you have only sinned in your thoughts and desires at this point.  At this point lust has been conceived and sin is present. When not dealt with, this then will lead to death - spiritually and in relationships, and sometimes actual physical death.

How to Stand Strong against Temptation?
Let's think back to Jesus in His temptation experience. Jesus had just spent 40 days with God so though He was weak physically, He was strong in His Spirit. If Jesus needed to get away from people and busyness of life and spend time with His Heavenly Father - how much more do we need to get serious about spending time with our Heavenly Father. The closer we walk with the LORD,  the more victory we will experience in every area of our life. So we need to daily, ( I mean daily) spend time in the Bible and become quiet before the LORD and allow Him to soak and saturate us with His Word and in this way His desires become our own personal desires. The more we have with the LORD, the less we want of the world and it's useless pleasures. We need to get Scripture into our minds so that throughout our day, we are thinking and meditating on the things of the Lord. We need to have Scripture in our mind and in this way we can quote it and Satan cannot stand against the Words of the Bible and He must flee.
Our desire becomes to do only that which pleases the LORD and brings glory to Him!!
Psalm 37:4  Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.