“The purpose of temptation is to dishonor God and kill the soul. (John Owen)
Watch and pray, do not be tempted; the mind is really prepared, but the flesh is weak (Mt 26:41).
1. The devil, who is the tempter? Mt 4: 3; 1 Tes. 3: 5
2. The world.
3. Does meat prone to evil? James 1: 12-13.
? When we neglect God’s obligations (duties)
? When we feed evil in our hearts.
? When we allow Satan to take us away from communion.
? When we don’t obey
1. The great evil that temptation can cause.
2. The wide variety of temptations used.
The heart is deceitful, more than anything else, and hopelessly corrupt; Who will know it? (Jer 17: 9)? In other words: don’t trust your heart!
Rely on doctrinal conditions and considerations; Trust in the Word, not men, not yourself!
? Confront them with false teachers and false teachings ?? prove yourself ??Deuteronomy 13: 1. 3
?Tribulations?” Above our forces” 2 Cor 1: 8?God tests us beyond our capabilities, giving us tasks, sometimes above resources, such as a challenge or a task.
? Suffering and martyrdom ??? Has Christ suffered?1 Peter 2:21 ??? the grace of suffering by Christ Philippians 1:29.
Obs. : God doesn’t try, ??? God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself does not try (Sant 1:13).
1. In order not to underestimate the power of temptation, it has the power to obscure our minds; intoxicate; numb in several ways:
(a) Master thoughts; Imagination. We can call it obtuse; Blindness.
b) Use desires and emotions to darken, darken our minds. We can call it irrationalism. Our flesh (the “I”) has a habit of justifying and rationalizing evil with sophisticated pretexts.
c) Inflamed evil desires, he controls with violence and power, adapting to a specific and appropriate sin, as if it were the fuel before fire. Attacks the vital point; The Achilles heel. Even the strongest are surprised. E. g. : Peter repudiated Christ.
2. Net you underestimate the power of collective temptation? Revelation 3:10
a) The sovereign power of God uses it to punish the wicked world and to judge the tares (the false believer).
b) Serves to manifest both good example (pity) and bad example (ungodliness). 2 Timothy 3: 1-9. Express laxity, accommodation or firmness.
c) A small space, a small seed, a small amount of yeast lifted the whole dough. ?1 Co 5: 6; Gal 5: 9?” It’s easier to follow the crowd that practices what’s not right than to stand firm with what’s right. (No reference),” It is not difficult to do the right thing, it is difficult to know what is right and when it is known, it is difficult not to do so (without ref. ), “We do not stumble in the mountains, but in the small stones” (without ref. ).
d) In collective temptation, there are always strong reasons, justifications, to lead us to evil. And this is combated with: Loyalty, obedience, humility, criticism, analysis, correct perspective, vision of the future. “Fear God and keep his commandments. ” Ec 12:13.
3. The power of personal temptation
(a) How can a guilty act occur in a firm believer?There is a process as follows:
1. The believer takes a small step with some resistance, but since it is only a partial resistance, he moves on to the second step,
2. You gain territory. Temptation enters the soul, so the trend grows,
3. After a certain stage, a favorable situation is sufficient to be consumed. And at this point, there is only one way to overcome it: mortification, killing evil at the root. Or do we mortify our sinful desires or our souls to die (John Owen). ?Reason can’t work out of desire! We must learn from our own experience, weigh inconveniences, losses, torments, etc. ).