Dwight Fletcher | New age ... same God

This week, we continue our discussion on how we are to treat the freedom that Christ ‘bought for us’. Last week, we looked at some types of sins that Paul mentioned in the text, 1 Corinthians 10. Today, we will look at the matter of temptation. Some people in Corinth were probably saying “Paul, I hear you, but that can’t happen to me”. Many of us may have this mindset. There are two ways to learn, from personal experience or from someone else’s experience. Paul is warning the Corinthian Christians that, if they began to take things for granted, if they thought they were standing strong, that was the time to be most careful not to fall. The Corinthians were very sure of themselves and Paul said that, if the Israelites fell into idolatry, so could some of the Corinthian church. No human being is ever beyond temptation, so we cannot let our guards down.

The question is then, since history suggests that this could happen to us, since we have the Israelite example that sin can disqualify me from God’s best, and since we should not be too full of ourselves or confident in our abilities to stand above sin, how do we do this? The Scriptures tell us. “For no temptation (no trial regarded as enticing to sin), [no matter how it comes or where it leads] has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man. But God is faithful [to His Word and to His compassionate nature], and He [can be trusted] not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation He will [always] also provide the way out (the means of escape to a landing place), that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Paul gives the answer in the above mentioned verse. Before we sin, there’s temptation. That is, we are enticed, incited or attracted to do something wrong or a forbidden thing. The temptation is not the sin; it is the pull towards the sin. From the verse, there are a few important observations:

a) Temptation is common to man – the temptations that come into your life are no different from those that come into the lives of other people. The enemy of our soul, Satan, would love to convince us that we are alone in our temptation and alone in our journey, for at least two reasons:

i) Sometimes we attempt to justify sin because of their ‘special circumstances’. This is destructive because it leads a person into sinning instead of resisting temptation, and also because, if someone doesn’t think they’re guilty, they won’t confess.

ii) When we think that we are the only one experiencing a particular temptation, we will be reluctant to seek help from other believers. God’s design for the church, however, is to be a body of believers helping one another.

Temptation is common to man because the real source of our temptation comes from our own hearts. In James, we find these words: “… each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.” (James 1:14-15). Yes, the enemy may bring the stimulus, but the desire resides within. The temptation isn’t the sin, the sin occurs as we yield to our sinful desires.

Next week, we will discuss God’s remedy for temptation.