The title of my sermon this morning is Temptation.
Temptation now in James chapter 1 here the Bible talks a lot about temptation and this
subject on the surface could seem a little bit confusing and even a little bit contradictory
of whether God tempts us or not.
Is temptation a good thing?
Is it a bad thing?
And the reason for this is that temptation has two very different meanings from one another.
I mean the Bible when it says tempt can mean two very different things.
It has two different definitions.
Let me show you what I mean.
In verse number 2 here the Bible says,
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations,
knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
So we see here that this meaning of tempt is to try.
It says that the temptation here is the trying of your faith.
Then a little bit later you jump down to verse 12.
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive the
crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
Verse 13.
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.
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.
Now if you would flip over to Hebrews chapter 11 and get your finger in Hebrews 11 and then
go back to Genesis chapter 22 at the very beginning of the Bible.
Genesis chapter 22.
While you're turning there, I'm going to give you what the dictionary says about the word
tempt.
Tempt number one on dictionary.com for tempt means to entice or to allure to do something
often regarded as unwise, wrong, or immoral.
So most of the time in 2018 when we use the word tempt, that's what we're talking about.
To try to entice someone or allure someone into doing what?
Something bad.
Something immoral or wicked or unwise or stupid or whatever.
That's usually what we mean by tempt.
But if you go all the way down to definition number five, it says on dictionary.com obsolete
definition is to try or to test.
Well that's not obsolete because the Bible's not obsolete.
And that's the way the Bible uses it and so that is what it means to try or to test.
Now we have a similar word in 2018 that we still use and that is the word attempt.
And if I said I'm going to attempt that, it means I'm going to try that.
I'm going to do my best to get that done.
That's what an attempt means.
So we still kind of have that definition a little bit.
So the Bible will use this word both ways.
Sometimes the word tempt means to entice, we could say just to shorten it, to entice
to do something wrong.
And then sometimes the word tempt means to test or to try.
And those are two very different definitions even though they're the same word that means
both.
So don't become confused.
Look at Genesis chapter 22 verse 1.
It says, and it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham.
Now wait a minute.
In James 1 it said what?
Let no man say when he's tempted I'm tempted of God.
For God cannot be tempted, here's the key word, with evil, neither tempteth he any man.
But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.
So this is the other definition of tempt here.
So can God tempt man?
Well if you mean entice to sin or allure to do something wrong, God will never do that.
God would never do that.
Whereas if it comes to testing or trying, God does do that.
And those are very different things.
So it says in Genesis 22 one it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham
and said unto him, Abraham, and he said, behold, here I am.
And he said, take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee
into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains
which I will tell thee of.
Now the test here is whether he has faith in the Lord.
Go to Hebrews chapter 11 verse 17.
Hebrews chapter 11 verse 17 says this, by faith Abraham, when he was, what, tried.
So in Genesis it said he was tempted.
Here it uses the word tried.
By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and he that had received the promises
offered up his only begotten son, to whom it was said that an Isaac shall thy seed be
called, accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence also
he received him in a figure.
So Abraham was acting on faith when he willingly brought Isaac to Mount Moriah, bound him,
put him on the altar.
He believed that if he killed Isaac, Isaac would be resurrected because he was acting
out and prefiguring the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what's being symbolized there in Genesis 22.
So he was doing the right thing by obeying God.
God praises him for doing that, and God says that he had great faith that led him to do
that.
So Abraham passed the test.
So in that case, God was tempting Abraham, testing Abraham, to see if he would do the
right thing.
He wasn't trying to entice him to do something wrong, okay?
Flip over to 1 Peter.
You're in Hebrews 11.
Just go a few pages over to 1 Peter chapter 1.
So there are a lot of examples in the Bible of God tempting people in the sense of testing
them to see if they would do the right thing.
For example, when God tells Abraham to leave his father's house and leave Ur of the Chaldees
to go into the land that he would show him, he goes by faith into the land of Canaan.
That was a test.
That was a test of Abraham's faith to see whether he was willing to pick up and relocate
and move his family to an unknown country.
He was being tested.
All throughout the Old Testament, there are stories where people are tested, like for
example, the prophet Elijah.
He's told to go confront the king of Israel, and obviously that took a lot of guts for
Elijah to stand in front of the king of Israel and preach against him right to his face,
and because of doing that, he ended up having the king hunting him and trying to kill him,
but he obeyed.
He passed the test.
And then, of course, he had to rely on God when he lived by the Brook Kidron.
He didn't have any food.
He had to rely on God to bring him food, and God sent ravens to bring food to Elijah.
So that's the kind of testing that God does.
He asks people to do things that are hard.
He commands people to do things that are difficult, or he puts people in a difficult situation
where they have to suffer and where they have to go through trials and tribulations in order
to make them a better person and in order to see if they are faithful, to see if they
will do the right thing.
That's the kind of tempting that God does.
The other kind of temptation of trying to entice someone to do wrong is what the devil
does, and we're going to get to that a little bit later, but look at 1 Peter 1 verse 3.
The Bible reads, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according
to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that faith
is not away reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though
now for a season, if need be, you're in heaviness.
What is heaviness?
We would probably use the word depression, you're down.
Heavy is something that's dragging you down, right?
He says now you're in heaviness through manifold temptations.
Manifold, many different types of temptations, trials, tribulations are dragging you down
sometimes in life, but he says that the trial of your faith, verse 7, being much more precious
than that of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise
and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
The Bible's telling us that we're gonna go through hard times in our life, trials, tribulation,
I mean things that are gonna drag us down, things that'll make us sad and in heaviness
and we're gonna go through pain and suffering and sorrow in order to make us a better person
and the Bible calls those things temptations.
When you go through these hard times, those are called temptations and it's the trial
of your faith.
Your faith is being put to the test.
That's what a temptation is.
You can say that you believe, but let's see how you do when the pressure's on, when there's
a cost to be paid.
That's the test of how strong your faith really is and so that's what he means there by temptations.
Flip over, if you would, to Malachi chapter 3, Malachi chapter 3, that's the last book
of the Old Testament right before Matthew.
While you're turning there, I'll read for you from Job 23, 10.
Job said, but he knoweth the way that I take.
When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
So that's a temptation, that's a trial.
God tries us so that we can come forth as gold.
So why does God allow bad things in our life?
Why doesn't God just shield us and protect us from anything bad happening?
Isn't this what some parents do?
They really want to shield and protect their child, that no one would ever say anything
that would offend them, that they would never skin their knee or possibly suffer any injury
or pain or hardship.
I mean, the moment they're thirsty, they must be given something to drink.
The moment that they have the least twins of hunger put the food on their plate.
You know, God forbid that they would ever have to experience discomfort or wait to eat
or wait to drink or wait to go to the bathroom or get a little roughed up on the playground
or something like that.
They want to just protect their child from all suffering.
Well, here's the problem with that.
Suffering makes us a better person.
So if we were to be shielded from all suffering, if we were never to be insulted, if we were
never to be smitten or afflicted with any kind of pain, any kind of suffering or hardship,
we would become horrible people.
We'd be horrible people.
People who have no empathy.
People who can't understand what other people are going through.
We would be self-centered, narcissistic jerks if we didn't go through suffering in our lives.
Suffering is a necessary part of our lives to make us a better person.
So God puts us through the fire in our life.
He tries our faith so that we can come forth as gold because when you put gold in the fire,
it's refined, all the junk is burned off of it and what's left is the pure gold.
And there's a lot of junk in our hearts, there's a lot of junk in our minds and God has to
purge us of those things.
And so we have to go through suffering and hard times in order to make us a better person.
And another word for those things that we go through is the word temptations, right?
We go through trials, temptations, testings.
The Bible says in Isaiah 48, 10, behold I have refined thee but not with silver.
I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
So God puts us through the furnace of affliction or hard times in order to refine us and make
us a better person.
Zechariah 13, 9, and I will bring the third part through the fire and will refine them
as silver is refined and will try them as gold is tried.
They shall call on my name and I will hear them.
I will say it is my people and they shall say the Lord is my God.
Look at Malachi chapter 3 verse 2.
But who may abide the day of his coming?
And who shall stand when he appearth?
For he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap.
So the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible says, is like fire and he's like soap.
Why?
He's going to clean us up.
And it says he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and he shall purify the
sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord an offering
in righteousness.
So we can see God purposely bringing us through temptation, testing, and trials to make us
a better person.
And that's why the Bible said in James 1 where we started, my brethren, count it all joy.
When you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh
patience.
So when bad things happen in your life, when suffering comes, when trials, tribulations,
hardships come, we should count it all joy.
We shouldn't get down and depressed and think that God doesn't love us or God isn't pleased
with us.
No.
It just means that we need to go through that furnace of affliction so that we can come
out more pure, so we can come out a better person.
God puts us through those things.
Now there's another kind.
That's the good kind of temptation, right?
The kind that God does.
God doesn't tempt us with evil.
God tempts us with difficult situations that we have the opportunity to go through and
do the right thing.
God's testing us, trying to provoke us to do what's right to make us a better person.
Now the devil is doing the exact opposite.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 7.
Now Matthew 6 13 is a famous verse from the Lord's Prayer where Christ taught us to pray
and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
Now when Christ taught us to pray, lead us not into temptation, he's not telling us to
pray.
Let nothing bad ever happen in my life.
Let me never go through a hard time.
I never want to go through any pain or suffering or testing or trials because those are good
things.
We're supposed to count it joy when we go through those things.
When the Bible is telling us that we should pray not to be led into temptation, we don't
want to be led into the enticement of Satan.
It's the bad kind of temptation.
Because the most important thing to remember is that temptation means two different things.
There's the enticement or allure to do evil and then there's the testing, trial that
makes us a better person.
One comes from the Lord.
One comes from the devil.
God does not tempt us with evil, period.
The devil does tempt us with evil.
Look what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter number 7 beginning in verse number
1.
The Bible says, now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me, it is good for a
man not to touch a woman.
Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife and let every woman
have her own husband.
Of course, fornication would be sleeping together outside of marriage.
This is a major sin that the New Testament just hammers over and over again condemning
fornication again and again and again.
We are supposed to only have that physical relationship within marriage.
If you sleep together before you're married, it's called fornication.
It's a major sin.
It's a wicked sin.
It's not a small little, you know, technicality, well, we're not married yet but we love each
other.
Wrong.
You've got to be married to do that and if you don't, you're committing a horrible sin
called fornication.
You say, well, everybody's, it doesn't matter whether the world thinks it's okay.
It doesn't matter whether in America that's considered normal.
It's wicked.
Now by the way, everybody's not doing it because 50% of the kids who graduate from McClintock
High School in Tempe, which is just a public school, atheistic school system, 50% of the
kids who graduate from McClintock High are virgins when they graduate from high school.
So apparently not everybody's doing it.
Even the world often is pure by the time they're 18.
But then they go to college and that statistic just drops.
It just plummets, you know, because of the wickedness of Devil State University here
and other places like that where the culture just pushes young people and they have no
adult supervision.
Their parents aren't there.
They're not in church most of the time.
And so they usually, that's where they start to get into that sin.
But it's possible to keep yourself pure.
And that's what God demands and commands that we reserve that for within marriage.
And he says, look, to avoid fornication, have your own wife.
Have your own husband.
That's what the Bible says, right?
Verse 3 says, let the husband render unto the wife, do benevolence.
And likewise also the wife unto the husband.
The wife hath not power of her own body but the husband.
And likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body but the wife, defraud ye not
the one the other, except it be with consent for a time that you may give yourselves to
fasting and prayer and come together again that Satan tempt you not for your incontinence.
Now this is a temptation that you don't want.
This is not a temptation that's going to make you a better person where you're going to
come forth as gold.
This is the other kind of temptation, Satan's temptation where he entices you or allures
you to do something wrong.
Now what in the world good is it to get married to avoid fornication if you're then not having
that relationship with your spouse?
I mean if people are going months or years without having a physical relationship with
their wife or their husband, well that's not a very good safeguard against fornication,
is it?
You know, that's why he's saying, look, don't defraud one another of that.
You need to render unto one another the due benevolence.
You need to do your duty in that marriage so that Satan doesn't tempt you for your incontinence.
And a great example of this is that, you know, let's say you're low on money and you don't
have a lot of money and you go out to your job and it's lunch time and you're low on
money and everybody's hitting the roach coach and spending five bucks on a frozen burrito
that's been warmed in a microwave or whatever and they're, you know, buying their two dollar
drink or their five dollar sandwich, you know, spending eight or nine bucks for some kind
of a not that great of a meal anyway, right?
We've all been there.
We've all done it, right?
Who's eating off the roach coach on a job site, all right.
But guess what?
If you came, let's say you came to work and you had no lunch, you brought no lunch.
That roach coach is going to seem more tempting, right?
But what if your wife made you lunch and you have a brown bag with a pretty good lunch
in it, you got a sandwich, you got an apple, you got a snack, you got a drink, whatever.
You're going to be a lot less likely to go and waste money that you don't have on the
roach coach because you brought a lunch, right?
Or even let's say you're just driving around, you see some restaurant that you really like
and it's, you know, again, you don't want to waste the money on it but you don't have
a lunch.
It's going to be a lot harder to push through till dinner.
It's going to be better if your wife had packed you a brown bag lunch, it's going to be easier
to withstand that temptation, right?
So that's what the Bible is saying here.
Look, eat at home that you will not be enticed to eat at the house of a stranger.
Now obviously it's not a sin to eat off the roach coach or to eat out but it can be stupid
if you don't have the money.
Now if you can afford it, great, go to that roach coach every day and eat up, buddy.
But you know, some people, it's like they can't pay their bills and then they're constantly
eating out.
They're constantly going to fast food.
They can't even pay their bills.
It's stupid at that point.
It can become sin at that point because the thought of foolishness is sin.
You know, when you can't pay your bills and you're buying overpriced food because you're
too lazy to pack a lunch or something or because you just want to have a party in your mouth
every single lunch time.
So that's a good illustration of this.
He's saying, look, you don't want Satan to tempt you so fulfill that desire righteously
within marriage so that you're not tempted to commit adultery, so you're not tempted
with fornication.
So this is a temptation that you don't want.
It's a temptation from the devil when you're being allured to commit fornication or adultery.
Go to 1 Timothy chapter 6.
Let me show you another temptation of the devil here, 1 Timothy chapter number 6.
The Bible says in verse number 8, and having food and raiment, let us be there with content.
Verse 9, but they that will be rich, will be means they want to be, but they that will
be rich fall into temptation and a snare.
So this temptation, this isn't a temptation where you come forth as gold.
This is a snare.
A snare is a booby trap, right?
A snare is something that you would set out in the woods to catch an animal that you want
to eat, okay?
So this temptation is a snare.
Those people who want to be rich, who love money, they fall into temptation and a snare,
and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition, for
the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some covet it after, they've
erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
But thou, O man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness,
faith, love, patience, meekness.
So if he says flee this temptation, flee fornication, he said, this is similar to the prayer, lead
us not into temptation.
You know, we don't want to be in that position like Joseph where some woman is throwing herself
at him in her home and he has to run out of there.
That was a bad situation, right?
So when we pray, lead us not into temptation, we're praying, oh God, let me not be found
at lunchtime with no lunch and the roach coach is right there with overpriced junk food.
That's what you're praying, right?
Or you're praying, oh God, please don't put me in situations where I'm in a compromising
position with women that are not my wife or something like that or where all these enticements
are there and I'm seeing all these things that are tempting me to sin, that are alluring
me.
So if we're not into temptation, Lord, you know, we don't want to be tempted like that.
Now we don't mind if the Lord tempts us, meaning he tests our faith and makes us a better person
by putting us through difficult challenges that make us better.
That's a totally different thing.
Go to 1 Corinthians 10.
1 Corinthians 10 and I'm going to show you the famous verse
in verse 13 here and then we're going to talk about which kind of temptation is this, right?
Because this word has two meanings.
We want to make sure that we know which meaning is being used.
Now some people might be tempted to say, no pun intended, there's something wrong with
the King James Bible here.
And this is what they'll say, you know, that's obsolete, there's something wrong with the
Bible here, it's confusing that this word means two different things, I'm going to get
a new version to fix that.
But here's the thing, in the Greek New Testament, guess what, it's one word.
Just like in English, it's one word.
The King James Bible is accurately translating the original here, okay?
So a lot of times when people are criticizing the King James Bible, what they're actually
criticizing is the original because all the King James Bible is doing is just faithfully
translating the original.
It's these new versions that twist and pervert and change things.
It's not the King James that's the problem.
They just have a problem with the Bible, okay?
The Bible is using the same word here for tempt and it means two different things, just
get over it, deal with it, okay?
This is just what the Bible says.
So when we read the Bible and there's a word like this that can go either way, we got to
use context, right?
If we come to the word tempt, we have to ask ourselves, what kind of temptation is this?
Is this the kind of temptation where the devil or my own sinful flesh is trying to entice
me into doing something wrong or worldly people are trying to entice me into doing something
wrong?
Or is this the kind of temptation where I'm just being tested and tried and being put
through tribulations for my own good?
So let's look at the Bible, let's examine the context.
Look at verse 13, there is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man.
But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able but will
with the temptation also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear.
So the question here is which kind of temptation is this?
Is this the kind of temptation that makes us a better person?
Is this the kind of temptation that's trying to get us to go down a dark path?
Okay, well let's get the context.
Look at the verse before, verse 12, wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed
lest he fall.
Look at the verse right after it, verse 14, wherefore, means because of this, my dearly
beloved flee from idolatry.
So obviously the verse before is warning us, you better watch out because you're in danger
of falling.
Right after he's like, man, you better run screaming in the other direction from idolatry.
You're in danger.
This is obviously the bad kind of temptation here.
This is the temptation to sin.
This is the enticement to sin.
So when he says there's no temptation taking you, but such is his common demand, what that
saying is, look, there are enticements in your life to try to get you to sin.
Guess what?
Everybody else is going through the same thing.
You know, you're a teenager, you're a young person, and there are those who are trying
to get you to drink alcohol.
There are those that would try to entice you into doing drugs.
There are going to be the loose, scantily clad young women trying to entice you into
fornication.
Guess what?
You're not the only one.
Everybody is going through the same thing.
There's no temptation taking you, but such is his common demand.
Why?
Because every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.
Every single person has what in their body?
Lust, the flesh, the sin nature.
We all go through temptations.
But the Bible says, God is faithful who will not suffer you or allow you to be tempted
above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make it a way of escape that
you may be able to bear it.
So God's not doing the tempting, but he does allow us to be tempted.
Why?
Because the world that we live in is filled with temptation and he allows us to live here.
He commands us to live here.
He tells us he doesn't want us to be taken out of the world, he just wants us to be kept
from the evil.
So we are going to be surrounded by temptation.
Look, God even allowed Jesus to be tempted by the devil.
But God's not doing the tempting because God would never entice someone to do something
bad.
But he does allow us to go through temptations.
But you know what?
God also will shield us and not allow us to be tempted above that we're able.
So we could never use the excuse and say, well, the temptation was just too strong.
I had to just give in.
I couldn't.
I'm human.
What could I do?
We can't really say that because God won't allow us to be tempted above what we're able.
Meaning that God knows our weakness and he'll shield us from just crazy strong temptations.
He'll look at us and say, you know what?
You can't handle that temptation.
I'm going to send the roach coach down another street today because you're going to give
in.
And I'm joking, of course.
But the point is that God will not allow us to be tempted above what we're able.
But he'll also, with the temptation, he provides what?
The way of escape.
A way out for us so that we don't give in to the temptation.
He provides an alternative that's a viable alternative.
Go to 2 Peter chapter 2, 2 Peter chapter 2.
So there's no excuse when we sin.
I mean, when we sin, it's our own fault.
We can't say when we're tempted, I'm tempted of God when it's the bad kind of temptation.
God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempted with any man, but every man is tempted when
he's drawn away of his own lusts and tights.
You know what that means?
That means if you eat off the roach coach when you don't have the money, that's your
fault.
And when you commit fornication, that's your fault.
If you get drunk, that's your fault.
If you go into the casino and start gambling away your money, you can blame yourself.
Look in the mirror, don't say, oh, God made me do it.
Don't even say the devil made me do it because, yeah, the devil wanted you to do it.
The devil enticed you to do it, but guess what?
God was there to shield you and provide a way of escape.
And let me ask you this, did you wake up that morning and pray, lead us not into temptation?
Because if you did, God would have shielded you even more.
And he would have maybe even given you two different escape routes out of that situation.
But there's always a choice.
Anytime you sin, there's always a choice.
Nobody made you do it.
Nobody forced you to do it.
It's your own fault.
Look in the mirror if you want to know who to blame when you give in to sin.
Second Peter chapter 2 verse 6 says this, and again, this is another one to examine
the word tempt and figure it out.
Verse 6, turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow,
making them an example unto those that after should live on Gavi and delivered just lot.
Now the word just there, it doesn't mean only lot.
It means righteous lot because justice and righteousness are two words that mean the
same thing.
A just man, a righteous man are the same thing.
He delivered just lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked.
For that righteous man dwelling among them and seeing and hearing vexed his righteous
soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.
The Lord knoweth, watch this, how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve
the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.
So when the Bible says here the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations,
which kind of temptations are we talking about?
We're talking about the bad kind.
How do we know that?
Because it was lot who chose to go live in Sodom and Gomorrah which was a stupid decision.
This is the one who chose himself, the well watered plain.
He chose to pitch his tent towards Sodom even though the men of Sodom were wicked sinners
before the Lord exceedingly.
They were horrible.
He chose to go there for financial gain.
He pitched his tent towards Sodom.
He made those decisions.
He put himself in a stupid situation.
He was enticed by the love of money to go there and want to prosper there even though
it was filled with sin and iniquity and horrible things.
But God still was merciful to him because he was a believer, because he was saved.
God was merciful to him and delivered him out of those temptations that he was in by
being in that wicked place.
But of course that was the bad kind of temptation, the wrong kind of temptations because obviously
Sodom and Gomorrah was completely given over to the devil.
God got him out of there.
There's always a way out is what that story teaches that you can leave Sodom.
You can get out of there and get away from all those weirdos in Sodom.
Okay, now what about the temptation of Christ?
Go to Hebrews chapter 2.
So we're talking about temptation and the biggest thing we've been seeing is just the
difference between these two different styles of temptation.
Two totally different definitions of the word.
One is a trial or a test and the other one is an enticement or an allurement to that
which is wrong.
So what about when the Bible talks about Christ being tempted?
What does that mean when the Bible says that Christ was tempted?
Let's look at some verses here and then we'll talk about it.
Hebrews chapter 2 verse 17 says, Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like
unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining
to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Verse 18, For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that
are tempted.
Now the word succor means to help.
Those of you who speak Spanish know the word socorro, right, which means help, help, socorro.
So it says he has suffered being tempted so he's able to succor them that are tempted.
So Christ was tempted, right?
What does that mean?
Well, let's look at chapter 4 verse 14.
Chapter 4 verse 14, it says, Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed
into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession, for we have not
an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, watch this,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need.
So when the Bible says that Christ was tempted, what does that mean?
We'll go to Matthew chapter 4.
Matthew chapter 4 is the famous passage of the temptation of Christ.
Well, who's doing the tempting in Matthew 4?
It's the devil.
So we see that when Christ was tempted, he was faced with enticements to sin from the
devil.
Okay?
The Bible says in Matthew chapter 4 verse 1, Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into
the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
So notice, God is not tempting him with evil.
God would never allure or entice him with evil, but God does allow him to be in a situation
where the devil can tempt him.
He's led of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
So he's put in a situation where there is temptation.
I mean, look, God has us here on this earth where we're surrounded by temptation.
Now he doesn't entice us to do evil.
We can never blame him if we give in, but it's all around us.
And so it's the devil who is the tempter.
In fact, the interesting thing about this passage is that the devil is just called the
tempter.
Look what the Bible says in verse 2.
And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was afterward and hungered.
And when the tempter came to him.
So the devil is just known as the tempter.
This is his character.
This is who he is.
When the tempter came to him, he said, if thou be the son of God, command that these
stones be made bread.
So right away, he's questioning God's word.
He's questioning whether Jesus is the son of God and trying to entice Jesus through
his hunger to commit sin.
And he goes through these three different enticements.
Now here's where people become confused with this word tempted.
If we say Christ was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin, sometimes
people misunderstand that word tempted because there's a third way that we use the word tempted
in 2018.
Because so far, the two definitions of tempt that we've given have been words that were
an active voice, not a passive voice.
So for example, we talked about God tempting people.
We talked about the devil tempting people.
We talked about maybe worldly friends tempting us or other advertisements tempting us.
But sometimes we use the word tempted in a passive voice where we would say, I was tempted.
Does everybody see the difference there?
We're not saying who did the tempting.
We just say, I was tempted.
And often what we mean by that in 2018 when we say, I was tempted, what we actually mean
by that is, I thought about doing it or I came close to doing it.
Do you see how that's a third meaning of tempt?
I almost did that.
Like if I said, you know what?
I was trying to stick with my diet, but when I saw that chocolate cake, I was tempted.
Now we're not saying that the devil came and said, you know, all this cake will I give
me, you know, if that will fall down, worship me.
We're not saying, when we say I was tempted, that somebody held it up in front of us like,
come on, you know, you want to eat this.
When we say I was tempted, we just mean that we almost did it.
We had an inclination to do it.
We thought about doing it.
We considered doing it.
So if I said I was tempted to lie, what does that mean?
I thought about lying.
I almost lied.
I came close to lying.
So when we say that Jesus was tempted, that is not what we mean.
So that's why we want to be careful not to mix this up.
Some people, when they hear, oh, Jesus was tempted, they think, oh, you know, he thought
about sinning a few times, or he came pretty close to sinning, or he almost sinned.
No, no, no, that's not what that means when it says he was tempted.
When it says he was tempted, it means that an external person here came to him and said,
hey, commit sin.
Right?
This is the devil externally coming to him and trying to get him to do wrong.
This is someone holding the cake.
It would be like, let's say I'm on some strict diet and somebody holds a chocolate cake in
front of me and says, you know you want this.
You know you want it.
Come on, just one bite.
It's not going to hurt anything.
You know, I might just be completely 100% firm on the fact I'm not eating it.
And I can even say this, I wasn't even tempted.
I'm not even tempted.
But in another sense, that guy was tempting me, holding that cake up.
Or that woman was tempting me, showing me the food.
But here's the thing, I wasn't tempted in the sense that I wasn't going to budge.
I was unmovable.
Now when we talk about Jesus Christ, was Christ tempted?
Well, of course, he is able to succor those that are tempted because he has suffered being
tempted.
You know, he has had worldly people try to get him to do bad things when he was on this
earth.
So he was tempted at all points like as we are, yet without sin.
He went through the testing that God the Father gave him.
God the Father tested him and tried him and put him through suffering and tribulations.
So he went through that kind of temptation.
Also, he went through the other kind of temptation where the devil or wicked men are trying to
trip him up and trick him and entice him and allure him to do wrong and entangle him in
his talk.
But was Jesus tempted to sin in the sense of, did he consider sinning or almost sin
or ponder?
Oh, man, that actually does look good.
No.
Okay?
Because Jesus Christ knew no sin.
The Bible says, he who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him.
So the Lord Jesus Christ was not drawn away of his own lust and enticed because he did
not have the wicked sin nature that we have that causes us to be prone to sin.
He was divine by nature and so he loved righteousness.
He hated iniquity.
He knew no sin.
He was confronted with obstacles and opportunities to sin and enticements to sin.
But he didn't have to, like, hold himself back from almost sinning.
So I want to make sure we don't misunderstand what it means when we say, he was tempted
but he didn't sin.
You know what we mean is he was tested but he didn't sin.
He was enticed by the wicked one but he did not sin.
But he wasn't tempted in the sense of, oh, man, actually, I think I will do that.
But isn't that what we mean sometimes when we say, I was tempted?
So we've got to make sure we get a biblical definition for words.
So the moral of the sermon this morning is this.
Which kind of person are you?
Are you the kind of person that tempts the people around you to commit sin, tempts them
with evil, allures them to try to get them to do evil?
Or are you the kind of person who is like, God, where are you?
Who is like, God, where when you tempt people, you're trying to challenge them or test them
to make them a better person.
I mean, are you trying to provoke one another to love and good works?
Are you trying to motivate the people around you, maybe challenge them, admonish them,
preach to them, try to get them to do right and motivate them to do right and encourage
them to do right?
That's what God's testing is.
That's what God's temptations are.
Or are you the kind of person that tries to get the people around you to stumble and fall?
Look, there are people out there who are like the devil in this regard.
I can remember when I was a teenager, people just, they wanted to entice me to sin so bad
because if you are known as someone who goes to church, if you're seen as the Christian
guy or the church-going guy, people almost make sport of trying to get you to sin.
They think this is a game.
I remember one time at Round Table Pizza, they took up a collection at Round Table Pizza
and gathered up $200 to try to get me to go to a strip club with them.
Like they said, we will give you $200 cash if you will go to this strip club.
And I'm thinking to myself, that's all the devil's offering me to sell my soul is 200 bucks?
I guess he doesn't think I'm that great.
But it's like $200 cash.
Think about this.
Why would young people, and look, young people don't have a lot of money.
I mean $200 is a lot to them.
Why would they want to give me $200?
Because it would be worth $200 to them to see Steven Anderson go and commit this wicked sin.
I mean think about how wicked that is.
And obviously I didn't do it.
But the point is that they wanted me to do it so bad that they were willing to pay me $200.
And then fast forward 15 years later, some TV producer called me and offered me $10,000.
So I guess my price had gone up a little bit.
What the devil thought?
Some TV producer offered me $10,000 to go on a TV show called Wife Swamp.
You know, so they were probably going to, they thought it would be funny I guess to swap out my wife.
They probably would have brought in some bull dyke looking woman or something.
You know what I mean?
I mean it probably would have been fun to just bring her to a church service and really rip some face.
But they wanted me to go on this wicked show called Wife Swamp and they're at $10,000.
And they're like, come on, $10,000 is a lot of money.
I'm like, get thee behind me, Satan.
But the point is though, there are people out there who enjoy watching you fall.
Right? They want to see you fall.
But you know what? Even a Christian, even a Christian, especially maybe a teenager who gets backslidden,
who gets worldly, could think it's funny to try to provoke their fellow teenager to do something wrong.
I mean think about this. Come on, we've all been teenagers, right?
Teenagers have never been adults, but all adults have already been teenagers.
So we see both sides of this thing, okay?
And you know what? You all know that when you were a teenager, and I know when I was a teenager,
that everybody in class is trying to do what?
They're trying to get somebody to break the rules.
Now they don't want to necessarily do it, but it's like, come on, you know, go do that, go steal that,
go put that in there, you know, go break that, go do that, you know, right?
Who knows what I'm talking about when you're a teenager.
You're always trying to get other people to do that dirty work.
You're trying to provoke them to do it.
But you know what? Just stop and think, Christian young person, you're being like the devil when you do that.
You know, when you find yourself trying to get somebody to push the envelope of what they believe is right,
or of what the Bible says is right, you know, don't be a devil.
That's what you're doing when you try to entice, oh come on, just drink a beer, it's no big deal, come on, you know.
Just take this drug, it's a soft drug, it's a gateway drug, you know.
Oh come on, just look at this dirty magazine, it's no big deal.
Hey, just look at this on my phone or whatever.
You know, are you a young person that tries to get the people around you to be a little more rebellious,
a little more sinful, a little more worldly, a little more ungodly,
or are you that young person who does the opposite, who tries to motivate the people around you
to read their Bible, to pray, to go soul winning.
And I'm not talking about being a holier than thou,
but I'm talking about just trying to challenge each other, motivate each other, provoking unto love and to good works.
Not in a prideful way, but in a humble way, trying to help the people around you be more godly and be a better Christian.
And you know what, teenagers often don't take life seriously.
They think life's all a big game and a joke,
but you know what, before you know it, your life's going to be pretty serious,
and you better start seeking the Lord now, teenagers.
And you know what, you're going to feel pretty bad when you're an idiot as a teenager,
and then you grow up and maybe you're still serving God,
and then you see all your teenage friends that were unsaved and going to the devil,
and you think, you know what, I never tried to help them or teach them to gossip.
Look, I wish I could get in a time machine and go back and be a teenager and win all my friends to the Lord.
Because you know what, when I was in junior high and high school, I was not a soul winner.
I wasn't winning anybody to Christ. I didn't get into that until I was like 17.
So when I was 13, 14, 15, 16, I wasn't winning souls.
And I regret that. And not only that, but I wasn't always a good influence on my friends.
There were times when I was one of the ones saying, hey, you know, yeah, go break that rule or whatever.
And you know what, you're not going to be happy about that later on,
because then you hear about those same people and you hear about how they're destroying their lives.
You see them on Facebook drunk out of their minds, and you think, you know what,
I could have been a good influence on that person, and I wasted my opportunity.
I was too busy goofing around being an idiot.
You know, I should have been teaching that person the Word of God,
getting them saved or giving them scripture, at least setting a good example of being righteous for them.
But instead I was too busy just goofing off and just pretty much wasting that whole period of my life.
So you teenagers need to wise up and be a good influence on the people around you,
because you can either be a good influence on the people around you, tempting them to do right,
or you can be like a devil in their life, tempting them to do wrong.
And even if you think, oh, I can handle a little bit of sin or whatever, well, maybe they can't, though,
and now you're leading them down a dark path.
Not that any of us can handle it, but some people around you might even be weaker than you.
You need to stand up for the Lord even in your youth.
You know, when you're 13, 14, 15, it's not too early to start soul winning.
It's not too early to start standing up for the things of God.
It's not too early to be a good influence on your friends and provoke them to love and good works,
not provoke them to commit worse sins.
So be like the Lord in that you don't tempt people with evil.
Only tempt with good.
And obviously in our own lives when the devil comes to us and tempts us or when our own lust comes to tempt us,
we need to resist that temptation and realize there's always a way out.
God always provides a way of escape.
We can't blame him.
We can only blame ourselves when we give in to temptation.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord,
and thank you for helping us understand the difference between these two different types of temptation, Lord,
and thank you for the Bible being so deep.
I'm glad that the Bible isn't some shallow book that I could figure out in a couple weeks.
Lord, thank you for the depth and profundity of your word.
Help us to continue to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And it's in his name we pray. Amen.