- Assurance of
- Victory
Memory Verse
No 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
- 1 Corinthians 10:13
- Temptation
+++
We identified 3 things from the memory verse that are true about every temptation we face.
All temptations are common to man
(humans). In other words, every temptation we have faced is something that our weak fallen nature has faced before. These temptations are "common" because they attack those human weaknesses we have.
No temptation will be more than we can bear.
God will never let us be tempted by something that we can't resist; in other words, God will never force us into sin (God forbid!)
All temptations have a way out provided by God
. This relates to point 2; God has given us a way out of all temptations, and that is His strength, grace, prayer, fasting, and all His words of encouragement. Remember, nothing has power of Christ's name or sign of the Cross (if we believe in their strength)!
+++Finally, we revisted a question we had before; is temptation sin? We all agreed right away that it is NOT, because Jesus was tempted in the desert.
—In fact, we read James 1:2-4 to see that being in trials is something we should see in a positive way; it's an opportunity to test our faith, call upon the Lord, and strengthen ourselves against temptation and grow ourselves in Christ, producing perseverance and bringing us closer to perfection.
- Temptation... is common to man
+++ We
then looked at a verse we have seen before that explains the major source for all of our temptations, our own evil desires.
- James 1:13-14
+++ Moving on, we looked at the 3 main areas of temptation that we face, in
- 1 John 2:15-16
- Lust of the Flesh-
- Glamour/Vanity, Gluttony, Laziness,
- Lust of the Eyes-
- Envy/Jealousness, Lust, Covetousness, Greed
- Pride of Life-
Pride, Bragging, Attention-seeking, Anger, Lying, Egotism,
- Selfishness,
Self-Conceit
Essentially every temptation we face can fall under these categories. Think about how Christ always did the exact opposite of these things.
- God is faithful
- +++We then
looked at God's faithfulness to us regarding out temptations and weaknesses.
- 2 Thessalonians 3:3
>>>
Christ won't let you be taken beyond your limits, and He will strengthen us and protect us from the devil. Ask for this strength in your prayer always!
- Hebrews 4:15
>>>
Jesus Christ, who although He was fully God, was also fully man, meaning He took on our weak flesh, and suffered the same temptations as us. This means He knows exactly what we are going through, and He feels sympathy for us. We made sure to note the end of the verse here though; He did
not
sin, and in doing so showed us it is possible, through His strength and grace, to resist sin too.
- A way out
- What ways has God given us to
- keep temptation from leading into sin
- Matthew 6:9 and 6:13
- >>>
Let God's will be done, as it is His will for us not fall into sin!
Verse 9— Start of the Lord's Prayer, recognizing God's Holiness, and asking for His "good" (perfect) will to be done.
Verse 13— Asking in prayer for God to save us from temptation and the evil devil. *Remember, this is Jesus Christ, a.k.a. God, giving us a way to pray. How important is asking for deliverance from temptation, if Christ Himself teaches us to pray about it daily?
- Colossians 3:2
>>>
"Let your minds be above" as said in the Holy Liturgy. Do not focus on the things of the world, which many fall under the 3 areas of temptation we talked about. As we read in
1 John 2:15
, loving the world means you do not have the love of the Father, God, in you. Why? Because Christ tells us were are not of this world,
- John 15:19
- Hebrews 4:16
>>>
Approach God's throne... how can we do that? Prayer is entering the presence of God, and that is how we do it. Throw yourself at the feet of God, and ask for His mercy and grace in strengthening you. No one, from the Disciples to newest Christian convert, can get anywhere without Christ's grace and strength.
- James 4:7-10
>>>
Specifically verses 7, and 10— We submit ourselves to God, meaning we follow His commands, humble ourselves, admit our need for Him, and also make our lives resemble that more. So we come to church on Sunday, read our Scriptures, pray, attend Bible studies so that we can hear, read, and think about the Word of God more, etc.
+++Ultimately, one of the major tests of our faith, where we see if we "put our money where are mouth is" or see if we are truly Christian, is fighting the temptations that we have everyday, resisting sin, and having our victory over evil through Christ.
- This Week's Study
Listen to Rabi's podcast, episode 64, "Deliver us from the evil one"
Read Luke 4:1-14, Jesus being tempted in the desert by the devil
—Read the 3 temptations the devil tempted Jesus with, how can they fall under the 3 main areas we talked about?
—Why did Jesus fast for 40 days? Did He need to do so to have strength over the devil? No, He did not need to fast. Think about why He fasted then, and then submit your thoughts on the questions form, or have them ready for class next week!
—Pray the Lord's prayer!