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THE PENTATEUCH

GENESIS ---EXODUS--- LEVITICUS 1.1-7.38 --- 8.1-11.47 --- 12.1-16.34--- 17.1-27.34--- NUMBERS 1-10--- 11-19--- 20-36--- DEUTERONOMY 1.1-4.44 --- 4.45-11.32 --- 12.1-29.1--- 29.2-34.12 --- THE BOOK OF JOSHUA --- THE BOOK OF JUDGES --- PSALMS 1-17--- ECCLESIASTES --- ISAIAH 1-5 --- 6-12 --- 13-23 --- 24-27 --- 28-35 --- 36-39 --- 40-48 --- 49-55--- 56-66--- EZEKIEL --- DANIEL 1-7 ---DANIEL 8-12 ---

NAHUM--- HABAKKUK---ZEPHANIAH ---ZECHARIAH --- THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW ---THE GOSPEL OF MARK--- THE GOSPEL OF LUKE --- THE GOSPEL OF JOHN --- THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES --- 1 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-16 --- 2 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-13 -- -GALATIANS --- EPHESIANS --- COLOSSIANS --- 1 THESSALONIANS --- 2 THESSALONIANS --- 1 TIMOTHY --- 2 TIMOTHY --- TITUS --- HEBREWS 1-6 --- 7-10 --- 11-13 --- JAMES --- JOHN'S LETTERS --- REVELATION

--- THE GOSPELS

Chapter 8 No Temptation Has Taken You But Such As Is Common To Man (1 Corinthians 10.13).

Someone may reply. But does that mean that if Christ is living through me I will no more be subject to temptation? The answer is a resounding ‘no’. Far from not being subject to temptation even greater temptations will come, for Satan will be loth to let us become powerful in Christ. He will therefore seek to find every way he can to turn us away from walking with Christ.

But the difference will be that we need not fear for we will have God’s firm promise that no temptation will come to us which we will be unable to bear, and from which He will not make a way of escape so that we are able to bear it (1 Corinthians 10.13). And just to make sure this is guaranteed on the basis of the faithfulness of God. ‘God is faithful and will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able.’

And, in case we are in any doubt on the matter, James adds, ‘Let no man think when he is tempted that he is tempted by God.’ For, he says, ‘God does not tempt any man. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed’ (James 1.13-14). Our adversary is not God, it is ourselves.

Indeed we know that it was the same for Jesus. Jesus Himself was constantly subjected to temptation, and we have examples of it in Matthew 4.1-11; Luke 4.1-13. And we know who was responsible for it in His case. It was Satan. But those temptations were not the end, for the temptations went on throughout His life. He did not want to suffer, and was no doubt tempted to avoid it, but He resisted it and set His face to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9.51). And in the Garden of Gethsemane He set His face to the cross, and it took strong crying and tears (Hebrews 5.7). So if He was tempted we can be sure that we will be too. But His firm promise is that He will always provide for us a way of escape so that we will be able to bear it.

However, as we consider such temptations we should be aware that temptations come in many forms, and we must therefore learn to combat them in the way that God has shown us.

Take the example of fleshly desires. God makes quite clear what we should do about them. He does not say ‘stand and fight’, He says, ‘Run away from youthful desires’ (2 Timothy 2.22). There are times when it is necessary to beat a strategic retreat, and avoid them as quickly as possible. We are not to try and stand there and resist them, we are to run from them or take avoidance action. When the Duke of Wellington was fighting the ever victorious Napoleon he constantly used this strategy. He became famous for retreating. But that is how he won in the end. He knew that we should never try to fight the enemy on his own ground. If you deliberately go to where you know that you will be physically tempted, or refuse to run from such temptation when it appears, do not be surprised if you fail. But there will always have been a time when you had the strength to be able to say ‘no’ and run. If you do not run when you can, then you must not blame God if you fail.

But you may say, surely if I go to places where I might be tempted in order to have a good time, and my motive is pure, God will help me to resist any temptation. The probable answer is that He will not. For His orders are clear. ‘Run away from youthful desires!’ If we disobey God we cannot expect His help in such situations.

Of course there may be situations where flight proves impossible. Then we may have to turn our thoughts to the promises of God, and seek to set our minds on Christ and on things above (Colossians 3.1-2), and then special strength will be given. However, it is incumbent on us to remove ourselves from the sphere of such temptation as soon as reasonably possible. For God will not give us special strength where we could have run from it and did not.

A second set of temptations will come in the mind, and from those we will be unable to run. We cannot flee from our thoughts. If Satan seeks to turn us away in our minds from the purposes of God, or to cause us to do something contrary to God’s word, or to cast us into doubt, then we cannot fight him by running away. Our minds and our doubts will only run along with us. Here then we must fight him by turning our minds to something else. Supremely by turning our minds to the word of God and reminding ourselves of what it says, even if necessary quoting it aloud, just as Jesus did when He was tempted. Here we must learn to ‘stand in the evil day, and having done all to stand’ (Ephesians 6.13), by making full use of the armour of God, and especially in this case by using the shield of faith in God’s word and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God (see Ephesians 6.10-18), with which we counter his suggestions. That is one reason why we need to ensure that we have a good knowledge of the word of God. We will consider this again in the next chapter.

A third set of temptations can only be dealt with by being resisted. Where it is a question of greed or envy or covetousness or a love of ‘the world’ and its glory or something that panders to our self-conceit, and we cannot turn our minds from it, we must resist it by submitting to God. Let God and His ways fill our vision and such temptations will lose their effectiveness. Let us take our stance before the throne of His glory and lesser things will fade in importance. The Bible says that if we resist Satan in this way he will flee from us (James 3.6-8).

This also applies to our mouths. ‘For every idle word a man shall speak he shall give account of it in the day of judgment’ (Matthew 12.36). How we hurt people with our words. What terrible half-truths are spread by our careless tongues. How easily and glibly we deceive each other. For as James pointed out, so often the tongue is set on fire by Hell (James 3.6). But if Christ once begins to live out His life through us, how this would all change. We must learn to resist the Devil by submitting ourselves to God, and then he will flee from us in fear and frustration. And this includes our mouths.

And in all cases if we see something that causes temptation to arise in our hearts, then we must turn away our eyes, or close them. For we can choose what we look at, and what we choose to look at reveals what we really are (Matthew 5.29; 6.22). If we fix our eyes in the right direction spiritually we will be full of light. If we turn them in the wrong direction we will be full of darkness. And, says Jesus, with a descriptive turn of phrase, if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness (Matthew 6.23).

Thus temptation must be fought strategically. The love of the flesh is usually best fought by running and avoidance. The love of the world is usually best fought by use of the word of God. The pride of life is usually best fought by submission to God. Of course, some temptations will be a combination of these in which case we may have to use a combination of tactics against them. But all can be dealt with in one or more of these three ways.