Temptation Men’s Bible Study

Introduction
In the gospel of Luke (17:1), Jesus tells his disciples that temptations to sin are sure to come. As Christians, we know this. We know the right thing to do, and we affirm the commands of God are good but as the Apostle Paul observed in himself and stated in Romans 7:21-23, “So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.” (NIV). Prior to our rebirth and regeneration, by the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus, we did not have the power to resist sin because we loved our sin instead of God. Our affection for sin and resistance to God controlled us. In John 3:19-20, Jesus testifies to this when he says, “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” (ESV). This sin nature entered humanity in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve fell from grace by disobeying God (eating fruit from the forbidden tree) (Genesis 3:1-7). Adam and Eve fell because Satan lied to them, and they believed the lie rather than God. Satan made them doubt God’s goodness and then used the natural appetites God had instilled in them to kill them. They
were tempted in three areas: The lust of the flesh (Eve saw that the fruit was good for food) The lust of the eyes (It was delightful to the Eves’ eyes) The pride of life (The tree was desired to make one wise) Nobody born escapes temptation. Even Jesus, who did not have a sin nature like us, was tempted by Satan when he was led into the desert to fast and pray before beginning his ministry. Satan approached Jesus using the same three tactics, but Jesus did not sin: The lust of the flesh (Tempting Jesus to turn stone into bread because of hunger) The lust of the eyes (Promise to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in exchange for worship) The pride of life (Leaping from the temple to demonstrate his divinity) Satan uses the same tactics today. He uses them because they work. His tactics are old but we still fall for them when we are not pursuing God appropriately. The unsaved, unredeemed world is in rebellion and walks in lockstep with Satan, the enemy of their souls. They are deceived. Only Christians can overcome temptation because of the victory of Jesus over sin and death and because of the Holy Spirit that lives within us. We have power in Christ to overcome but, overcoming the power of sin in our lives does take effort on our part. In this series, we will look at ten common temptations related to the lust of flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life that men typically struggle with. We will look at what the word of God says about these temptations, discuss strategies to resist them, hold each other up in prayer, and provide accountability.

Olive Campus, Wednesdays at 7pm