Common Temptation

To be tempted is not a sin, to succumb to temptation is a sin. Succumbing to temptation is not the real problem, but a symptom of the real problem. The real problem is a lack of dedication to God, Bible reading, worship at home and at church, respect for God’s people and God’s leaders, and a yielding of our bodies, our ambitions, our thoughts, our desires, our necessities to the leadership of the most holy and righteous God. The real problem is that we are selfish (because we want to do our thing), self-centered (because we really believe the world revolves around us), and proud (everything we are and everything we think, everything we have is better than what everybody else has. If only people would listen to us, we have the answer).

Verse 1 - Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;

I. If we are going to be able to overcome common temptations, we must understand what everybody else is going through.

A. They were covered from the heat of the sun during the day, because the cloud covered them.

1. The desert is very hot during the day because there is no shade to get under.

2. The desert is very cold during the night because there is nothing to hold the heat generated during the day.

3. The cloud covered the Israelites during the day and the pillar of fire gave them protection, heat, and light during the night.

1. They all went through the same thing, seeing the miracles of God in delivering them from the Egyptians, while the Egyptians died in the Red Sea.

A. There came a time when the Israelites must make a decision about whether to leave Egypt or go with Moses.

2. It might be possible to hide a persons personal beliefs before plague # 10 came along, but after that, each person had to make a public testimony concerning what he believed about Christ.

1. Baptism doesn’t save us, but it is a public display to all the world that Jesus has saved us.

1. Like the Israelites had to publicly proclaim they were following Moses, not Pharaoh, we must publicly proclaim we are following Christ, not the world.

I. All believed the same doctrine, because they were all taught the same doctrine by Christ himself.

A. When we tithe, God can do more with the 90% we have left over than we can with the 100% we had before we tithed.

1. When Moses stuck the rock the second time, he actually struck Christ, because Christ is the rock, see verse 4.

Verse 4 - And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

Verse 5 - But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

B. His pleasure or displease will be found in how we are able to handle the four common temptations that come upon us.

C. Many believers do not remain faithful because they complain when hard times comes.

Verse 6 - Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.

I. Paul gives four things that are evil the Israelites lusted after, and we will lust after to our own destruction.

Verse 7 - Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

A. Physical or material image or form representing a reality or being considered divine and thus an object of worship. [1]

2. They had waited on Moses, and he didn’t appear when they thought he should, therefore they made the golden calf, sat down and worshipped it.

C. I Samuel 15:23 – Samuel told Saul, “rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.”

1. I Samuel 13 – The beginning of the end of Saul was when he would not wait for Samuel to come and administer the proper sacrifices, therefore he “forced” himself and offered the sacrifices himself.

2. The next time Saul rebels, Samuel is commanded by God to not weep for him, but to do what God tells him to do.

D. Saul’s problem is impatience – he wouldn’t wait like God told him to wait.

3. We want to see results immediately, and when we don’t see the results we want to see immediately, we go to something or somebody other than God to get the results we want.

E. I Samuel 29 – Saul finally went to a witch to find out. He got to the point that he didn’t care who he got an answer from, he just had to get an answer.

1. God‘s people will often go away from God to anything that will give them the answer they want. [2]

A. God’s people often go astray when they don’t understand what their leaders understand.

1. Exodus 32:1 states, “And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount…” God didn’t do what the people thought he should do when they thought he should do it.

2. Moses was on Mt. Sinai receiving instructions from God on building the tabernacle and receiving laws from God.

3. The people didn’t have a clue what Moses was doing, why he was doing it, or what God had on his mind for them.

5. If they truly understood the future, and what God had for them, they would not have had to had a party to have a good time.

Verse 8 - Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.

I. This whole topic is not talking about sexual sins, it is talking about fulfilling the temporary, wicked desires of the flesh.

1. Paul is saying he does everything he does to win souls, and to advance the kingdom of God.

2. He doesn’t do what his flesh wants him to do, he does what is eternal, what God wants him to do.

1. Verse 24 - He is running a race, and he intends to win (by the grace of God, of course.)

2. Matthew 25:21 - He wants to hear his master say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”

3. II Tim. 4:6-8 – “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

a. We need to so live our lives that we are able to willingly face Almighty God at the judgment, knowing what the he will say to us.

b. Don’t kid yourself as some do, who have “forgotten” their earthly wickedness.

A. Sexual sins is not the problem, it is a symptom of the real problem – a lack of dedication to God and his will for our lives.

1. Satan is able to use sex, a natural, normal part of our lives, in a wrong way to get us to disobey God, and obey him.

2. Satan is able to use our appetite for food, work, pleasure, and every other material thing to get us to disobey God, and obey him.

3. Satan even uses our desire to worship as a means of getting us to not worship God and worship him.

4. Satan makes worshipping God slow, old fashioned, not according to our desires, so we will worship him.

5. Many people have said, “I like this church better” when the doctrines of that church are false.

a. People should be saying, I like this churches programs, activities and such better than the programs, activities of this other church because that is what they really mean.

b. Some people judge the worthiness of a church based on their own thoughts, rather than the thoughts of God.

c. To find the truth, it is important to ask, “What does the Bible say?” not “What do I, or you, think?”

C. Numbers 25 - The example given refers to the time when Balaam desired to curse Israel for money.

1. The time period is shortly before the death of Moses, and just before Israel will enter into the promised land.

2. Balaam did not curse Israel, but because he went to Moab and considered cursing Israel, Israel went to Moab.

3. When leaders go astray in one area, God’s people often go astray in another area.

4. If the public prophets of God think they can get away with sin, the people believe they can get away with all kinds of sins.

D. “The Lord will not be prevailed with by Balaam's charms to ruin them; try if they will not be prevailed with by the charms of the daughters of Moab to ruin themselves.” [3]

1. “None are more fatally bewitched than those that are bewitched by their own lusts.” [4]

2. James 1:14 – “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.” See the context of this scripture.

3. The worship of Baal-Peor involved prostitution, and all sorts of sexual perversions. Spiritual fornication and physical fornication are combined.

5. This same principle is evident in religion today – Find out what the people want and preach it with conviction!

E. Matthew 5:27,28 – Jesus said that to look on a woman to lust after her in your heart is committing adultery.

1. I know there is a difference in the result of this “mental” adultery and actual physical adultery.

A. I Cor. 10:8 - 23,000 died that day; Numbers 25:9 - 24,000 died in the entire plague.

1. Hebrews 13:4 – “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”

B. How many homes, lives, families, ambitions, hopes, dreams and eternities have been ruined by the illicit use of sex?

C. How many homes, lives, families, ambitions, hopes, dreams and eternities have been ruin by the worship of false gods?

Verse 9 - Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.

2. of remembering Egypt – They only remembered the good things of Egypt, not the bad things. (selective memory!)

3. of God’s provision – God provided plenty of food for them, but they wanted what they wanted, not what God gave them.

B. Tempting Christ always involves two things: Receiving the blessings of God, then complaining because there is doubt that God is with you. The examples I give in this outline are integrated into the message.

a. Numbers 21:1-3 – God answered the prayer of Israel and gave them victory over the armies of the Canaanites.

b. Numbers 21:4-6 – Israel complained because of the hard way they were in, therefore God sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people and many died.

a. Deuteronomy 6:3-15 – God gives instructions to Israel concerning how they are to remember all the good things God has done for them in provision.

b. Deuteronomy 6:16 – God tells Israel they should not tempt him, as they did in Massah. Israel is to remember the good things God has done for them in providing for them, and never forget. When Israel forgets the good things God has done for them, that is tempting God.

a. Exodus 16:1-36 – God provided manna and quail for Israel when they complained at a lack of food. God was merciful to them, not just that he gave them manna, but he also provided quail, which is a bonus.

b. Exodus 17:1-7 – Israel traveled to Rephidim, where they complained because there was no water to drink. God gave them water from the rock when Moses struck it, symbolizing the crucifixion of Christ. Verse 7 states that Moses called the place Massah because it was there that Israel tempted the Lord. A very amazing thing here is that the cloud that led Israel by day and the pillar of fire that led them by night was still there.

4. It makes me ashamed to understand what tempting the Lord is. We often tempt the Lord and done even realize what we are doing. May God have mercy on our unworthy souls, and our unworthy lives.

A. The word “tempt” as in Deut 6:16, “Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah” Massah has reference to Israel not believing God will do what he said he would do. By their actions and words, Israel believes that God is not with them, nor will he provide for their daily necessities.

1. The context of Deut 6 reveals that this kind of temptation comes when we have received every good thing from the Lord, but fail to see the hand of God’s deliverance in our present “tough” situation.

a. See Exodus 17:2, “Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?”

b. Exodus 17:7, “And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?”

A. Right after Israel received manna from God, they pitched in Rephidim, but had no water.

E. Verse 7 explains that tempting God is wondering whether God is with them or not.

2. We have all wondered if God is with us or not, especially when times get tough.

4. There are some problems that just come along, but even in these problems, God is trying to teach us something.

IV. Matthew 4 – When Satan tempted Christ, he wanted him to believe God would not provide that which was physically necessary.

1. James 1:14 – “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.”

2. Temptation comes to us because of that which is inside us, not that which is outside us.

3. If we can only understand this point, we are well on our way to overcoming temptations.

Verse 10 - Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.

I. Murmuring means to complain or grumble, saying God is not with us, we shall die, we shall not make it this time, so forth.

2. The Old Testament word translated “murmur” means “to stay permanently; hence (in a bad sense) to be obstinate (especially in words, to complain):--abide (all night), continue, dwell, endure, grudge, be left, lie all night, (cause to) lodge (all night, in, -ing, this night), (make to) murmur, remain, tarry (all night, that night).” So this is talking about a continual complaining because nothing is ever right with them. They always want something changed so they will like it better, but when it is changed, they still don’t like it.

B. I think it is really important to understand the difference between continually grumbling and being uncertain of the future but trusting God in that uncertainty.

2. but it is another thing to trust God when things aren’t going the way you want them to go.

4. In bad circumstances, we should never complain about the circumstances, although it is not wrong to ask God for relief, or to ask God to give us better circumstances, or to ask God to fix whatever is wrong.

1. Faith is believing God will do when there is no evidence (other than the word of God – his promises) that he will do it.

2. Complaining would be the opposite – not believing God in the circumstances around you.

D. We often complain when God doesn’t do what we think he ought to do, when we think he ought to do it.

II. There is no example given in I Corinthians 10 because there are many examples of Israel complaining and God allowing Satan to destroy them, killing that generation in the wilderness because God was tired of hearing them complain.

A. It seems to me that Numbers 14 is a very clear example of God destroying Israel with the destroyer.

1. There are many situations and circumstances which led up to the events of Numbers 14 and God’s final earthly judgment upon this generation.

2. Examples of how Israel’s unbelief led to their decision in Numbers 14 is as follows:

3. Let us never doubt – God will do exactly to us what he did to Israel, if we complain and aren’t satisfied to trust God in bad circumstances.

2. They complained to the men God placed over them, as if the had themselves brought them to this place, and could do anything about their present evil circumstances.

1. Exodus 15:24 – The people murmured against Moses, saying, what shall we drink?

c. Ex. 15:22 – It had been only three days since Israel saw the Red Sea destroy the army of Egypt.

f. Ex. 15:27 – They come to a place where there is a well of water for each tribe.

2. Exodus 16:2 – Two months and 15 days after Israel left Egypt, they murmured against Moses and Aaron, believing they would all starve to death.

a. Israel could not “see” with their eyes of flesh how God would provide for them, so God gave them manna every day, and as an extra, he gave them quail on that day.

1) This passage teaches so clearly the mercy of God upon his children when they don’t know how to live by faith.

2) God will gently teach them about his provision, by giving them that which they don’t deserve.

3) When God is merciful to us, we need to recognize he is being merciful to us, and not take his mercies for granted.

1) Later God would send quail and smote the people with a very great plague because they didn’t believe – Numbers 11:33.

3. Exodus 17:3 – The people murmured against Moses because they don’t have anything to drink.

a. This murmuring turned into tempting God because God had just given them good things, which Israel took for granted.

b. Remember that tempting God is complaining to God about bad circumstances when God had just given us good circumstances.

d. Be very careful when you complain that you don’t complain against your leaders unless your leaders are really to blame.

e. Some people never seem to understand that leaders are in the exact same situation as everybody else.

4. Numbers 14:2 – Israel murmurs against Moses and Aaron at the report of the 12 spies. This is the “straw that broke the camel’s back,” resulting in the final earthly judgment of God upon this generation.

b. Israel is succumbing to idolatry because they refuse to follow God’s direction, desiring instead to return to Egypt.

c. Israel is succumbing to spiritual fornication because they desire the life in Egypt to the life God has for them in the promised land. They are forsaking the promise God gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and desire the pleasures of this world for a season.

d. Israel is succumbing to tempting Christ because God has given them many good things in evidence of the blessings to come.

1) They refuse to believe God will take care of them, even though they still see the cloud leading them by day and the pillar of fire by night.

2) They refuse to believe God will bring them into the promised land even though they are still eating the manna God gave them, and drinking the pure water he has supplied for them along the way.

3) They are still living by sight, not by faith. They refuse to believe the promises of God, so they won’t receive the fulfillment of those promises.

e. Israel is succumbing to murmuring (complaining against their leaders) desiring they had died in Egypt, desiring new leaders of their own choosing, who will lead them back to Egypt, which they forget God has destroyed. Things will never be the way they were, but that is what Israel wants.

1) In effect, Israel does not want God to destroy his enemies. Israel does not want God to establish his kingdom.

3) This generation will die in 40 years of wilderness wanderings, and the children, whom the parents used as excuses for obedience, will inhabit the promised land. [7]

Verse 11 - Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

1. The word of God wasn’t in complete in the Old Testament, but the people had the advantage of hearing God speak if they would listen.

2. The word of God (Bible) is complete in our day, so we have the whole of God’s revealed will for fallen mankind.

2. The end of the world will come to the people this letter applies to, particularly the points about temptation.

Verse 12 - Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

I. We may think we are special and our temptations are special, but they aren’t.

A. If we aren’t careful, we will fall, just like Israel fell and died in the wilderness.

Verse 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.

I. The only way we are going to be overcomers is to understand that everybody goes through these four temptations.

2. So Paul is saying that the only temptations we have are those temptations that normally, or ordinarily come upon every man

A. Define the problem – where does you particular temptation fit in the four temptations Paul mentioned in verses 7-10.

1. Verse 7 – Idolatry. (you must define what the Bible says idolatry is before you answer.) Not waiting on Christ, not believing his word, doing it our way.

a. God giving good, but us complaining when we don’t continue to receive good.

b. Try counting your blessings instead of complaining about what you don’t have.

d. We need to be like Job – Job 2:10 – “What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.”

C. Determine action to avoid the penalty of God’s judgment. (How to resist temptations.)

1. Doing the following is opening the door of escape so you won’t have to fall into temptations.

2. The way to overcome temptations is found by applying the four common temptations to our lives today.

4. If we are able to see how Israel failed, we can also see how they should not have failed, then we are able to see how we should not fail.

2. Fornication - Resist doing what you “feel” you must do – do what you know you should do.

3. Tempting Christ - Do not tempt God by questioning why you don’t have what you think you ought to have.

4. Murmuring - Do not complain about the various situations you find yourself in – submit yourself to God and claim his promises. Don’t blame others.

A. James 1:12-14 – “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. 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: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.”

1. These verses explain that temptation is always evil, whether Satan is tempting us, whether we are tempting ourselves, whether we are tempting God.

B. Verse 14 explains we are tempted when we are drawn away of our own lusts and enticed.

2. Enticed – to entrap, delude. Therefore to entice is to fix your mind so on the temptation that you cannot escape.

C. We should be like Job in our temptation. James 5:11 “Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” [8]

[1] From Holiman Bible Dictionary – article idol.

[2] Preached to here 8/19/01 IBC Sunday Morning

[3] copied from On-Line Bible, Matthew Henry Commentary on Numbers 25:1.

[4] copied from On-Line Bible, Matthew Henry Commentary on Numbers 25:1.

[5] Preached to here 8/26/01 IBC Sunday Morning

[6] Copied from On-Line Bible, Matthew Henry Commentary, I Corinthians 10:6 They quarreled with God, and murmured against Moses his minister, when any difficulties pressed them. When they met with discouragements in the way to Canaan, they were very apt to fly in the face of their leaders, were for displacing them, and going back to Egypt under the conduct of others of their own choosing. Something like this seems to have been the case of the Corinthians; they murmured against Paul, and in him against Christ, and seem to have set up other teachers, who would indulge and soothe them in their inclinations, and particularly in a revolt to idolatry. Rather let them feast on idol sacrifices than bear the reproach, or expose themselves to the ill-will, of heathen neighbours. Such conduct was very provoking to God, and was likely to bring upon them swift destruction, as it did on the Israelites, Num. 14:37. Note, Murmuring against divine disposals and commands is a sin that greatly provokes, especially when it grows to such a head as to issue in apostasy, and a revolt from him and his good ways.

[7] Preached to here 9/2/01 IBC Sunday Morning

[8] Preached to here 9/9/01 IBC Sunday Morning