1For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact,
brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all
passed through the sea. 2They were all baptized into
Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3They all ate the
same spiritual food 4and drank the same spiritual drink;
for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was
Christ. 5Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of
them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.
6Now these
things occurred as examples[a] to keep us from setting our hearts on evil
things as they did. 7Do not be idolaters, as some of
them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got
up to indulge in pagan revelry."[b] 8We should not
commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three
thousand of them died. 9We should not test the Lord, as
some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
11These
things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us,
on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. 12So, if
you think you are standing firm, be careful that you
don't fall! 13No temptation has seized you except what
is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond
what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so
that you can stand up under it.
13”No temptation has seized you except what is common to
man.”
·
Being tempted
to sin is not the same as sinning.
·
Temptation in
and of itself is not sin.
·
Even Jesus
was tempted.
·
Only sinning
is a sin.
·
In God’s eyes
all sins are created equal – one is not better or worse than another.
·
All sin needs
to be atoned for.
IV. God will protect the Christian by not
letting them be tempted beyond what they can endure. V. 13
“And God is faithful; he will not let you
be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also
provide a way out so that you can stand up under it”. V.13
V. God will provide a way out so you can
stand up under the pressure. V. 13
·
GOD PROVIDING
A WAY OUT OF SIN PLACES RESPONSIBILITY BACK ON THE INDIVIDUAL.
12So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! 13No
temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he
will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,
he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
4. Include people who
love you enough to keep you accountable.
NOTE: MOST PEOPLE HAVE “BLIND SPOTS”
WHERE THEY CAN NOT SEE THEIR OWN SHORT COMINGS, BUT THE PEOPLE AROUND THEM
CERTAINLY DO.
TRUTH: TO SEE OUR OWN “BLIND SPOTS”, WE
MUST GIVE OTHER PEOPLE PERMISSION TO SPEAK INTO OUR LIVES WHEN THEY SEE INCONSISTENCIES
WITH WHAT WE SAY AND WHAT WE ACTUALLY DO.
·
The Christian
cannot consistently overcome temptation alone – we need the body of Christ for prayer,
protection and accountability.
1Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are
spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be
tempted. 2Carry each other's burdens, and in this way
you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3If anyone thinks he
is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4Each
one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without
comparing himself to somebody else, 5for
each one should carry his own load.
·
As the body
of Christ we are called to help others caught in sin without judgments and
comparisons.
NOTE: Judging people’s sin is a sin…and
comparing my righteousness to another person’s sinfulness is also sin.
Matthew 7:1-5 says:
1"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and
with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3"Why
do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention
to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your
brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a
plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the
plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck
from your brother's eye.
5. Realize that Christ in you is bigger
than the sin that tempts you.
4You, dear children, are from God and have overcome
them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the
world.
10In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that
God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of
their salvation perfect through suffering. 11Both the
one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So
Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. 12He says,
"I will declare your name to my brothers;
in the presence of the congregation I will
sing your praises."[a] 13And
again,
"I will put my trust in him."[b] And again he says,
"Here am I, and the children
God has given me."[c]
14Since the
children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his
death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by
their fear of death. 16For surely it is not angels he
helps, but Abraham's descendants. 17For this reason he
had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a
merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make
atonement for[d]the sins of the people. 18Because
he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being
tempted.
13When tempted, no one should say, "God is
tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;
14but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he
is dragged away and enticed. 15Then, after desire has
conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth
to death. 16Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. 17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from
the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to
be tempted by the devil. 2After fasting forty days and
forty nights, he was hungry. 3The tempter came to him
and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become
bread."
4Jesus
answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every
word that comes from the mouth of God.'[a]"
5Then the devil
took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
6"If you are the Son of God," he said,
"throw yourself down. For it is written:
" 'He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'[b]"
7Jesus
answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the
test.'[c]"
8Again, the
devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the
world and their splendor. 9"All this I will give
you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
10Jesus said
to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your
God, and serve him only.'[d]"
11Then the
devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
FOR EXAMPLE:
2 Timothy 1:7 says:
7For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a
spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7
B. WHEN YOU ARE TEMPTED TO
WORRY ABOUT THE FUTURE, RECITE MATTHEW 6:25-33
Matthew
6:25-33 says:
25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life
more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or
store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much
more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can
add a single hour to his life[a]?
28"And
why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do
not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even
Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If
that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and
tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of
little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we
eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For
the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you
need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his
righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. MATTHEW
6:25-33
Romans
6:1-12 says:
1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so
that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin;
how can we live in it any longer? 3Or don't you know
that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his
death? 4We were therefore buried with him through
baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead
through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5If we have
been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united
with him in his resurrection. 6For we know that our old
self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
8Now if we
died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9For
we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death
no longer has mastery over him. 10The death he died, he
died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
21So I find
this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body,
waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of
sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I
am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks
be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a
slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty
power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can
take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle
is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put
on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able
to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your
waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and
with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with
which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on
all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be
alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
NOTE: WHEN YOU DRINK IN
GOD’S WORD INTO YOUR HEART, MIND AND SOUL, YOU ARE PUTTING ON CHRIST WHO IS THE
WRITTEN AND SPOKEN WORD OF GOD!
10) Pursue God, who is love because
love is stronger than sin!
15If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,
God lives in him and he in God. 16And so we know and
rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in
God, and God in him. 17In this way, love is made
complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment,
because in this world we are like him. 18There is no
fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with
punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19We love
because he first loved us. 20If anyone says, "I
love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not
love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 says:
4Love is
patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily
angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not
delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always
protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love
never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are
tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.