The Heart of Temptation

Jesus was tempted to turn stone to bread

Who better to learn from than Jesus about how to win against temptation? This Man lived a life of perfection! Second Corinthians 5:21 tells us that Jesus "knew no sin". Obviously the Man knew what sin was, but He never experienced sin. As difficult as that is to imagine, our salvation is based on that fact!

In Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, and Luke 4:1-13 the Holy Spirit gave fantastic insight into the struggle against sin. We see the incredible scriptural insight Jesus possessed. We see a perfect example for dealing with sin. Who does not need such lessons?

Consider these facts about the first of those three temptations:

The Tempter Appealed to Legitimate Need

Jesus needed food. Have we not used legitimate needs to excuse sin?

• I need to fit in, so I must...
• I need to have friends, so I must...
• I need to have a girlfriend or boyfriend, so I must...
• I need a job, so I must...

The Tempter Appealed to Something Small

We often think Satan will use the "big sins" to tempt us. But he knows that if he can convince us that the "little sins" don't matter, it is much easier to entrap us. All he needs is for us to sin. The "size" of the sin does not matter. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). The first temptation of Jesus was turning a stone to bread. No one would know. It was for a good cause (self-preservation). It was a very minor thing.

The Tempter Appealed to Distrust

What we fail to realize sometimes is that Jesus lived by faith in His Father. He did not have a magical pass on sin. He was tempted just as we are (Hebrews 4:15). The only way he overcame was by faith. This was God's design for all His followers. Habakkuk 2:4 tells us that the just will live by faith. If we make it to Heaven, it will only be through our faith in God.

The Savior Saw Himself

The temptation was not about food. It was about faith. He did answer with a verse that mentioned bread, but that verse was not about bread either! It was also about faith. Jesus understood the temptation because He understood Himself. 

Jesus could easily have answered Satan with Genesis 3:19 where we are told that "in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread" meaning that there must be labor for the food we eat. He could have said He would not "cheat" this process by performing a miracle. But He did not say it. 

He could have mentioned something about eating the "bread of wickedness" mentioned in Proverbs 4:17, or other such passages. He could have quoted Proverbs 25:27, "It is not good to eat much honey. So to seek one's own glory is not glory." These could be applied to some degree to the appeal for bread. But Jesus understood the heart of the matter because He understood Himself and what the temptation appealed to inside Himself.

The verse that He quoted in defense shows the true heart of the temptation. He quoted from Deuteronomy 8. In that passage Moses was recounting the experiences of Israel in their years of wandering in the wilderness. He reminded them that God caused them to wander for 40 years, but also that He provided all the food and water they needed. He even ensured that their clothes and shoes did not wear out. God intended for them to learn a lesson--and that lesson was the same lesson Jesus understood. Man does not live by bread alone. We are sustained not by the physical but by God. Jesus was not about to misuse His gifts in order to feed Himself. He trusted in His Father to take care of Him.

How often we misunderstand the schemes of Satan! Underlying any temptation is a reason for it. There is a weakness. There is a natural inclination. There is some subtle desire that is trying to manifest itself. Or perhaps there is ignorance and naivety. Unless we understand WHY we are tempted, we will only treat the symptom and not the disease. When we understand ourselves, then we will understand how to combat our temptations. We need to ask ourselves the difficult questions and find out WHY. 

The Savior Saw the Answer

It was no accident that He quoted the verse He quoted. Jesus knew the scheme was to tempt Him into doubting the Father's provisions. He knew that the Scriptures taught a lesson about that very topic, and He saw that the answer was provided very clearly. That is because Jesus knew the Bible.

If we want to understand how to resist Satan then we must know and understand the Bible. If Jesus had not learned that lesson by understanding the Scriptures, He would not have had the ability to stand against Satan's scheme. He would not have even understood the issue.

We must understand, not just know what it states. As mentioned before, there were other passages that could have been used to some level of success. But Jesus chose the perfect instructions because of the perfect understanding of the situation.

We are not perfect, but with practice we can understand what the real issue is and also learn what God states about that issue.

Practical Application

Scenario 1:

A young man is tempted to look at pornography. Until he comes to grips with WHY he wants to look, he will not understand how to fight against it. 

• Perhaps he does not respect women because he was taught (by various methods) that women are to be treated as objects instead of human beings. 
• Perhaps he is curious about sexuality and innocently thinks pornography will give him a realistic view of it.
• Perhaps he feels lonely and wants to reach out to women but is afraid.
• Perhaps he lacks faith in God to provide for his physical needs and is seeking ways to meet those needs in his own way.

In each circumstance above, that young man would face that temptation differently. There is not a "one-size-fits-all" answer to the temptation for looking at pornography because the reasons for the temptations vary. Of course, we know that looking at pornography sinful. But quoting verses that condemn the practice is not necessarily the best way to combat it.

Scenario 2:

A young girl is temped to have sex before she is married. Why would she be tempted?

• She might want to fit in with her friends who are sexually active.
• She might fear losing her boyfriend.
• She might want a taste of danger to get back at her parents for perceived wrongs.
• She might want to ease an emotional pain by falling into the arms of one who "loves" her.
• She might want to feel attractive.

Each answer above has different roots.

Bottom Line

Ultimately temptations come down to one thing: Faith. We either trust God and do things His way or we trust ourselves and do things our own way. The young man in Scenario 1 must face this. He must learn to trust God's reasoning in creating women. Studying Genesis 2 would help. He must trust God's directives for sexuality and wait until marriage to have his curiosity resolved. Reading and memorizing the passages that condemn uncleanness and fornication would help him (Hebrews 13:4, et al). He must learn to seek out company in proper ways, which can be reinforced by understanding the Song of Solomon, Proverbs, or other passages. He must learn to trust God to provide for his needs in God's own time-frame.

Similarly, for the young woman, she needs to learn what true friendship is by reading Proverbs. She needs to trust God to fulfill her life, not a boyfriend. She must learn that to be forgiven she must first learn to forgive (Matthew 6:14-15). She must learn to go to God for healing of emotional pain by understanding passages like 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 and other passages. She must learn that inner beauty is greater than outer beauty (Proverbs 31:30).

Until the problem is understood the solution is guess-work. These brief excursions into some of the motives we face for just one type of sin should show us the extreme difficulty any of us have in fighting off temptations. The good news is, however, that God has made us a promise. We can trust this fact. "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted. but with the temptation will also make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it" (1 Corinthians 10:13).