Day 1 - Introduction

Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.
The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Matt 26:41 (ESV)

How do you feel about temptation?

How do you feel about temptation? This is the question we must each consider as we begin our journey through John Owen's Temptation Resisted & Repulsed. If we do not believe that temptation is dangerous, the this study will be of little help. As John Owen puts it in his preface, "I want to tell you I am not writing for you." So as we start ask yourself, "How do I feel about temptation?"

My prayer is that you do understand the serious danger that temptation is. I pray you see the gravity of the offense that temptation to sin against God leads to. And I pray that your desire is to resist and repulse temptation for the great glory of God and for your great good. As Owen puts it, I pray that you have a deep desire" for personal holiness and zeal for Christ."

The Danger in Ourselves


"Even the best of saints, being left to themselves will quickly appear to be less than men, to be nothing.
All of our own strength is weakness and all of our own wisdom is folly."

John Owen, Temptation Resisted and Repulsed

With these words, Owen sets our course as we consider temptation. He shows from the account of the disciples failure on the night of our Lord's betrayal (Matt 26:36-46) the danger of temptation when we are left to ourselves and rely upon on our own strength and wisdom.  Owen uses this specific instance of how our Lord called his first disciples to respond to temptation as the pattern of how we as his followers today are to respond to temptation.

Three Observations from Matt 26:41

He brings to our attention three things that the words of our Lord in Matt 26:41 show us:

  1. "The evil cautioned against - temptation."
  2. "The means by which it prevails - by our entering into it."
  3. "The way of preventing it - watch and pray."
Thus, to resist and repulse temptation the most basic of actions is to "watch and pray."

Testing vs. Temptation

Owen also helps us to see that scripturally what we call "temptation" actually is two different things:
  1. Testing
    • "Testing" (or trials) is the positive act in our lives to show what is in us. God tests us (James 1:2) and we are to test ourselves (1 Cor 11:28; 2 Cor 13:5). Testing's goal is to lead someone to good.
  2. Temptation
    • "Temptation" is the negative act in which the goal is to lead someone into evil. It is this act in which God never enters (Jam 1:13) and in which we are to never enter either (Luke 17:1-2; Rom 14:13).