Stop Tempting Me         1 Corinthians 10:1-13

I don’t enjoy exhausting myself through exercise. I swim 3 days a week to maintain some level of fitness. This week after one session a man about my age said “It feels good when it’s over.” I knew exactly what he meant. With respect to the subject of temptation, what is it that you would say tempts you, to do something or not do something? Perhaps the effort is too much and you quit, or worse - you know to do some things is morally wrong, financially unwise or physiologically unhealthy.

We can be tempted, as we considered last week, through relationships that are morally destructive. We can be tempted to overspend and go beyond the boundary of a reasoned budget.

Paul continued to make a case to the Corinthians that their current moral and spiritual trajectory was not healthy. The surrounding culture had influenced them to the point that it was rubbing off on the way things were done in the church. There was division (chapters 1-3); spiritual immaturity, thinking they knew more than the Apostle (chapters 4, 5); solving spiritual issues and divisions with worldly lawyers and answers (chapter 6); and rampant idol worship with respect to food. (chapter 8)

Paul then gave his role and responsibilities as an Apostle (1 Corinthains 9) and then a history lesson of the ancient Israelis (chapter 10) and that temptation is able to be overcome, the reason being that we are part of a body (chapters 11-16)

It is with respect to temptation that our focus is this morning. Corinth, as we said last week, is not dissimilar to modern western society. 1. They were affluent – Corinth was a trade port; 2. There was sexual immorality – temple of Diana – Ephesian pride – 2 hour riot and chant in Acts; 3. Worldly wisdom in the church (1 Corinthians 6) lawyers, fleshly reason (1 Corinthains 3:1-3) “But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh…

Paul said that 1. Your temptation not out of the ordinary – “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man” 2. God is not tempting you and beyond your ability to resist “he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability” 3. He gives you a way of escape out of the temptation – “with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

1.    Never say your temptation is specific to you in any way, or more than you can bear; there is always an ‘out’.

2.    You are able to withstand. James said, “Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.” The ability to withstand lies with us and the fault, when we fall, lies with us.

3.    God provides a way of escape. Greater is He (the Spirit who is in you) than he who is in the world (Satan and even our own sin). Remember when Jesus said to Peter, Satan has asked to sift you, but what? – I have prayed for you. Peter was restored after he denied Christ. In the same way Satan was only allowed to go so far with his destructive force over Job; God protected him; Satan was not to harm his life.

But what if we fall, give into temptation? We need to acknowledge this is a dangerous place. James went on to say, “Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” The Lord can, and does, use it to make us more spiritually aware and understand the stakes of the battle. Remember, Peter was full of pride: “Even if everyone falls away, I won’t fall away.” He was saying he was spiritually stronger than the other disciples; not true, certainly not when compared to John who followed Jesus into the trial chamber while Peter stood outside warming Himself.

But Peter was restored – declaring His love for Christ 3 times in opposition to his denial 3 times. Peter would go on to boldly preach and be the founding instrument in the establishment of the church at Pentecost and carry on Christ’s ministry of the miraculous.

Be sure your sin will be found out, but that’s thankfully not the end of the story. The Lord rebukes and chastens those whom He loves. He never lets us sit in apathy, discontent or rebellion; He loves us more than that. He desires to mould and make us into His image. (Romans 8:29)

What is the model to deal with temptation? Of course, there is nothing better than Christ Himself when He was tempted. So, as we go through this example, what I would like you to do is in your mind think about what tempts you most. Is it lust, self-justification, anger or discontent, a covetous spirit – you are just not happy, apathy – you are not near to Christ but quite distant in your relationship? Whatever it is, I want you to filter it through what Jesus did when He was tempted.

In Matthew 4 (parallel passage in Luke 4) Who directs Him? This is interesting. In Matthew 4:1, it says, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” James said, “desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin.”

Satan may lead us to be tempted us to sin, but he doesn’t make us sin. The phrase, “The devil made me do it,” is a lie. No, you do it yourself. Don’t blame Satan – he put the temptation there, sure, but you gave into it.

Jesus was being led by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by the devil as a witness to us as to how to respond to sin. Question: Was Jesus corruptible? Could He have sinned? Remember, Jesus was without sin. I believe it was possible as a human; impossible due to God’s sovereignty. He was never going to sin, but it was possible for Him to morally fall, except for the will of God.

You might say, well no because unlike us, Jesus didn’t have sin. Correct. In the same way Adam and Eve didn’t have sin, yet they still fell into sin when they were tempted. The presence or absence of sin is not a factor of ability to sin. A sinful nature may give us a moral bias, but does not give us an inability to resist. 1. Jesus was fasting. Satan uses a spiritual activity to tempt us in the flesh. 2 End it all. Jesus was weak physically Satan took advantage: throw Yourself off the temple. 3. I’ll give you everything. All the world’s kingdoms were offered to Jesus. Jesus told the devil where to go, “"Be gone, Satan! For it is written, "'You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'"

You should do the same. James, our Lord’s brother, said, “resist the devil and he will flee.”  (James 4:7)

Sometimes, it happens and we sin, but grace covers moral failure that is repented of. This is the good news from Romans 7:14-25, “the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”

The goal of the Church body at Chuwar is to be a place of grace. With those things I asked you to think about, Jesus tells us there is an answer through the prayer: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Let’s do that now. Our Lord is a restorer.