Temptation - Bible Study

What is temptation?

Temptation is a struggle we all face. Temptation will try and pull us away from God, and into our own sinful desires.

Read James 1:13-15: 'No one undergoing a trial should say, “I am being tempted by God,” since God is not tempted by evil, and he himself doesn’t tempt anyone. But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death. '

Reflection Question: What's your biggest takeaway from this verse? What does it say about temptation?

This verse describes temptation as being drawn away from God, and enticed by evil desires. Temptation starts as a desire for something sinful. It's not inherently sinful to feel temptation, but when you give into it, it becomes sinful.

The 3 types of temptation

To best be prepared for when temptation comes, we need to know what forms of it we will face.

1. The World

Read 1 John 2:15-16: "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions — is not from the Father, but is from the world." 

Reflection Question: What do you think "the world" is as described in this verse?

The world as described here is the sinful desires, pleasures, and practices that exist in our world that are opposed to God. Here John describes the temptations of the world as "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one's possessions" 

Lust of the flesh: Whatever our bodies crave. Essentially just our physical desires.

Lust of the eyes: Whatever sinful desires that come from what we see. Usually, these desires come from lust, envy, or greed. Seeing something attractive or beautiful isn't bad, but it can become a temptation when that desire begins to control you or pull you away from God. 

The Pride in one's possessions: This is pretty much just the attitude that you're self-sufficient. This usually comes from the way of thinking that your earthly possessions, accomplishments, and status put you above others. The reason that this is sinful is because God is all we need. Nothing we do or have on earth makes us better than anyone else, and no matter what we have on earth, we always still need God.

2. The Flesh

The flesh is one of the strongest temptations we face, as it's literally our physical body's desires. The desires of the flesh are things like our inherent desires for food, water, shelter, sex, and whatever else we physically need/want. These desires aren't inherently sinful, but when you give into them they can lead to sin. One example of this is eating. It isn't a sin as it's required to live, but when you overindulge in food, and that takes priority in your life, then it can lead to gluttony, which is sinful. Sexual desires themselves aren't a sin, but when you give into them, they can lead to lust, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, or any other form of sexual immorality. 

Read Galatians 5:19-21: "Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things — as I warned you before — that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God" 

Reflection Question: What are some of the temptations of the flesh you've faced in your life? 

The Bible teaches us many times to deny the flesh, as the flesh often wants what is against God. The flesh is one of the strongest tempters because it's literally our body. We can't just not feel these cravings because our bodies will always desire them. This is why it can be so hard to deny the flesh. 

3. The devil

The devil is probably the biggest tempter we have. He is the source of all evil in the world and is opposed to everything good. He wants what's bad for us, and will do anything he can to lead us away from God. He attacks us in these main 3 ways:

1. He attacks when we are most vulnerable

The devil studies us, and our lives. He knows our weak areas and will do whatever he can to get us to sin. One prominent example of this from the Bible is when Jesus himself was tempted during his fast. 

Read Matthew 4:1-3: “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was hungry. Then the tempter approached Him and said, ‘If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.’”

Here we see how the devil waits until the last day of Jesus's fast to come and tempt Him with food. This is when he is physically at His weakest.

Reflection Question: When have you seen this happen in your life, where at a weak point you were tempted?

2. He deceives us

Often to best tempt us, the devil will try and deceive us first. If we don't believe what we're doing is wrong, then it makes it so much easier to tempt us. He will try to deceive us into believing what isn't true. 

Read Genesis 3:1-4: “Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, “You can’t eat from any tree in the garden”?’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, “You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.”’ ‘No! You will certainly not die,’ the serpent said to the woman.”

Here we see the devil deceiving Eve, trying to make her believe that eating the apple was a good idea. This is what he often does with us. He will make us believe what we're doing is right, or that God won't care, when it's actually the opposite. 

3. He distracts us

The last main way that he gets to us, is by distracting us from God. There are so many distractions and things that pull us away from God in the world. The devil uses these to his advantage. Sometimes even the most subtle distractions or idols we have are just enough to pull our attention away from God, so the devil can sneak in and attack. As Christians, we need to do our best to not have idols, and have Jesus be the primary focus of our lives. Having God constantly on your mind and heart can help you be prepared for when this temptation comes.

Resisting/Overcoming Temptation

Reflection Question: How do you respond when faced with temptation? Do you find yourself easily giving in, or resisting?

Learning how to respond to temptation is really important, because even a small mistake can be the difference between falling into sin or not. Now that we know what forms of temptation we face, we can look at some more practical steps.

1. Staying Prepared

Read Matthew 4:1-11: “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was hungry. Then the tempter approached Him and said, ‘If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.’ He answered, ‘It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’
Then the devil took Him to the holy city, had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: He will give His angels orders concerning You, and they will support You with their hands so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’ Jesus told him, ‘It is also written: Do not test the Lord your God.’
Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. And he said to Him, ‘I will give You all these things if You will fall down and worship me.’ Then Jesus told him, ‘Go away, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve only Him.’ Then the devil left Him, and angels came and began to serve Him.”

Reflection Question: In what ways are Jesus tempted, and how does He respond?

In these verses we see Jesus being tempted after a 40 day fast. This is when he's physically at his weakest, and if we look at the forms of temptation he faces, they're actually the 3 temptations of the world. The lust of the flesh when he was starving after his fast, the lust of the eyes when he's tempted to do a flashy act by throwing himself off the temple, and pride when he was offered to rule the whole world if he worshiped the devil. Even though Jesus faced these temptations, he resisted and didn't fall into sin. 

We can learn from how Jesus responded to temptation here. We can see that each time he's tempted, he recites scripture. This is how we should respond. Any time we notice ourselves being tempted, we should immediate recite scripture, or turn our focus to God in some way.

We can also prepare ourselves just by spending more time with God in general. Sometimes this is easier said than done, but just by consistently taking time out of your day to focus on God by praying, reading your Bible, or fasting, we can already be better prepared for when temptation comes.

2. Flee

In many examples in scripture we see the word flee used, and this is one of the most important things when it comes to temptation. A lot of times when temptation comes, we can let it grow slowly, but the Bible says to flee from temptation and sin! We shouldn't even consider temptation. As soon as we feel tempted in any way, we should immediately do whatever we need to to get out of that situation.

3. Community

Read James 5:16: "Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect. "

Reflection Question: What does this verse say about the role a community has in overcoming sin and temptation?

Having a God-centered community, friendship, or group can be very beneficial to overcoming temptation. As this verse says, confessing our sins and struggles to each other can be very powerful. You should never go through anything alone, so even just having someone from your church or family knowing about your struggles can help. Accountability is also important. This doesn't necessarily apply to every form of temptation, but having someone that can keep you accountable on your goals and sin can help keep you motivated. Think about who in your life can help you through whatever temptations you're facing, and what steps you can take to get in contact with them about it.

Conclusion

Read 1 Corinthians 10:13: "No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it."

Reflection Question: How do you feel about this verse? Whats your biggest takeaway?

This verse provides some of the best motivation for our journey of resisting temptation. God will never let us be tempted beyond what we're over to overcome. He provides a way out of every temptation, but it's up to us to take it. As you go forward, remember that you are strong enough to resist temptation. It's not always gonna be easy, but using what you learned here, hopefully you can be better equipped for your battles with temptation.