James
1:2 ¶ My brethren, count it all joy when
ye fall into divers temptations; 3
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4 But let patience have her
perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. 5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of
God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall
be given him. 6 But let him ask in
faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven
with the wind and tossed. 7 For let not
that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man is unstable in all
his ways. 9 Let the brother of low
degree rejoice in that he is exalted: 10
But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass
he shall pass away. 11 For the sun is no
sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower
thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall
the rich man fade away in his ways. 12
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is
tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them
that love him.
Temptations
are things, events, and even people that can cause one to question their faith
and ultimately, God Himself. They can be temptations of the flesh like food,
sex, and power, or temptations of suffering like disease and persecution.
Note part
of my comments on Luke 4:1-13 to get a better handle on temptations.
Luke 4:1 ¶ And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost
returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in
those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.
3 And the devil said unto him, If thou
be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. 4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is
written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
5 And the devil, taking him up into an
high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of
time. 6 And the devil said unto him, All
this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto
me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 7
If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. 8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee
behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt
worship the Lord thy
God, and him only shalt thou serve. 9
And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the
temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from
hence: 10 For it is written, He shall
give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: 11 And in their
hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a
stone. 12 And Jesus answering said unto
him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 13 And when the devil had ended all the
temptation, he departed from him for a season.
An important point must be made about verse 2 in Luke 4. To tempt is to test or try.
Revelation 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my
patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
When Satan tempts one, tests one, the ultimate goal is to make
them fall. God never tempts anyone of His people for the purpose of making them
stumble as it says in James.
James
1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: [with evil, of course, as the verse is
to be understood]
God tempted Abraham but knew that Abraham’s faith would keep him
from disobeying.
Genesis 22:1 And it came to pass after these things, that
God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
Hebrews 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered
up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
A temptation then is not merely a matter of whether you looked too
long at the magazine rack at the airport but a test of your faith, a trial.
Only who is it from; the Devil, Satan, to make you fall or God to prove your
position in Him, if only to yourself? Job’s entire ordeal can be called a
temptation. Early Christians were sometimes faced with a demand that they
reject Christ or die. This is also a tremendous temptation, an assault on one’s
faith, belief in God, and trust in God as can be an illness or pressure from
the world. Noteworthy scripture on temptations include;
Luke 11:4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
1Corinthians 10:13 There
hath no temptation taken
you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye
are able; but will with the temptation
also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
Here, in James
1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation:
for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath
promised to them that love him.
Satan wishes to have Jesus take the Crown before the Cross and
subvert His mission as Saviour of the world. He uses His human hunger to begin
demanding that He turn stones to bread but Jesus answers with Scripture.
Deuteronomy 8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to
hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy
fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread
only, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
Then, Satan tempts Him with power and the glory of the kingdoms of
the world. God has given those over to Satan and the lowest of men rule over
nations through him as the god of this world system (2Corinthians 4:4). He
demands worship.
Daniel 4:17 This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of
the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth
in the kingdom of men, and
giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.
One day Jesus will seize these kingdoms.
Revelation 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were
great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his
Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Christ replies with Biblical truth.
Deuteronomy 6:13 Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve
him, and shalt swear by his name.
Deuteronomy 10:20 Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt
thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.
Satan then tries to tempt Him with presuming on God, to his sense
of self-preservation and tries to create a sense of needing to prove at this
time His relationship with God the Father. He quotes:
Psalm 91:11 For he shall give his angels charge over
thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. 12
They shall bear thee up in their
hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Jesus replies by alluding to this Scripture.
Deuteronomy 6:16 Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye
tempted him in Massah.
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