STUDY 5TEMPTATION

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Definition of Temptation

• Temptation means “putting someone to the test”; or “making trial of someone”.

Verse to Learn: James 1:12(NIV)

12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

The Purpose Of Temptation:

From God’s Point Of View

God allows us to be tempted

because He loves us. If we react the right

way to temptation it works for our

good.

1) God puts us in situations which show Him and us

and others what is in our hearts.

e.g. Abraham. Read Genesis 22:1- 18.

Genesis 22:1- 18.

Abraham Tested22 Some time later God tested Abraham.

He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.

4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,

 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac

said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 

10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

 11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram[a] 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.”

15 The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time

 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,

 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 

18 and through your offspring[b] all nations on earth will be blessed,[c

] because you have obeyed me.”

ABRAHAM.wlmp(PLEASE CLICK HERE)

Abraham & Isaac

2) By putting us to the test, God purifies us just as silver or gold is purified in a refiner is

crucible Psalms 66:10-For you, God, tested us;you refined us like silver.

Isaiah 48:10- See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

1 Peter 1:6- 7

6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 

7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.

3) Through Temptation, God strengthens our patience and

make us mature.James 1:2- 3Trials and Temptations2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and

sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

James 1:12

12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

Temptation – From Satan’s Point Of View

Satan is opposed to God’s people and therefore wants Christians to fall into sin.

Satan is only God’s instrument and can do only what God allows him to.

e.g. (Job 1 and 2, Satan had to ask God’s permission about the trials he brought Job into).

1) God sets the limits of the trials Satan brings.

Why, as we mature in the Christian life,

do we sometimes face more difficult

temptations than we did at the

beginning? (1 Cor 10:13).

13 No temptation[a] has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted[b] beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,[c] he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

2) Satan tempts us through suffering.

In what way were some early Christians (and some Christians today) tempted?

Rev 2:10-

10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.

3) Satan test us to satisfy our nature desires in the wrong way.

Matt 4:1- 4. Jesus Is Tested in the

Wilderness4 Then Jesus was led by the

Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted[a] by the devil.2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 

3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

What nature desire did Jesus have? (v2)

C:\Users\Tusa\Documents\Jesus Temptation in Desert.mp4

PLEASE CLICK HERE

4) Satan tempts through painting a false picture of what God is like. Genesis 3:1- 5The Fall3 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 certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.

 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

ADAM & EVE.wlmp(PLEASE CLICK HERE)

Adam & Eve

Our reaction to temptation determines whether

temptation works for our good or for our harm.

James 1:1212 Blessed is the one who

perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL

TIMOTEO TUSA