Day 4 - Entering into Temptation
All will experience a season in which their temptations will be more urgent, sin's reasonings more plausible, its pretensions more glorious, hopes of recovery seemingly clearer, opportunities broader and more open, the doors of evil more beautiful than ever they have been before.
Blessed is he who is prepared for such a season!
There is no escape without preparation.
John Owen, Temptation Resisted and Repulsed
Truly Facing Temptation
The day or season will come in which all of us truly face temptation. It is that time in which a temptation is truly enticing to us. It is the day when the temptation becomes desirable. It is the day we must be prepared for so that we can resist and repulse temptation and not enter into sin.
What It Means to Enter into Temptation
"Entering into temptation" might be described today as "entertaining temptation," that is, to give temptation real consideration. As Owen puts it, "When we allow a temptation to enter into use, then we 'enter into temptation.'" Notice that entering into temptation is a choice: we choose to allow it to enter into us, we choose to entertain it. Thus, as we will see in the days to come we can also chose to resist and repulse it.
But entering into temptation is NOT committing the sin or evil. There is a distinction between "entering into temptation" and "falling under temptation." The prior is where temptation begins to take root in our lives; the latter is where temptation turns into sin.
But entering into temptation is NOT committing the sin or evil. There is a distinction between "entering into temptation" and "falling under temptation." The prior is where temptation begins to take root in our lives; the latter is where temptation turns into sin.
Entering into Temptation is NOT the same as being Tempted
Entering into temptation and being tempted are not the same thing, though they are related.
Being tempted comes first. But being tempted doesn't mean that something is tempting to us. For example, there are many advertisements that attempt to tempt us, to entice us to buy something. But if it is something that we don't like, the temptation amounts to nothing more than noise. But there are other things that are enticing to us, things we want or desire. These things are tempting. We might even use the phrase that these things are "truly tempting" to us. When we face such things, then the second step can come: entering into temptation.
Entering into temptation is the second step, and one that does not have to occur but often does. This is the step when we choose to actually entertain the temptation. Now the temptation has a seed bed in our hearts in which to grow.
Being tempted comes first. But being tempted doesn't mean that something is tempting to us. For example, there are many advertisements that attempt to tempt us, to entice us to buy something. But if it is something that we don't like, the temptation amounts to nothing more than noise. But there are other things that are enticing to us, things we want or desire. These things are tempting. We might even use the phrase that these things are "truly tempting" to us. When we face such things, then the second step can come: entering into temptation.
Entering into temptation is the second step, and one that does not have to occur but often does. This is the step when we choose to actually entertain the temptation. Now the temptation has a seed bed in our hearts in which to grow.
Two Reasons We Enter into Temptation
There are two reasons we enter into temptation:
1) Satan's Force - Satan uses a "special advantage or occasion" to tempt us with greater forcer, greater allure than a typical temptation.
2) Our Heart's Desire - Our own heart must want the temptation enough ("be entangled enough") so that we are unwilling to cast the temptation aside.
1) Satan's Force - Satan uses a "special advantage or occasion" to tempt us with greater forcer, greater allure than a typical temptation.
2) Our Heart's Desire - Our own heart must want the temptation enough ("be entangled enough") so that we are unwilling to cast the temptation aside.
The "Hour of Temptation" - When Entering into Temptation Occurs
There are two times when entering into temptation occurs:
1) God allows it.
This is when entering into temptation occurs. This is "the hour of temptation." This is when temptation is at its zenith, its greatest force.
1) God allows it.
For God's own purposes, He allows Satan "to gain a peculiar advantage against the soul."
e.g., Peter being sifted like wheat - Luke 22:31
2) The temptation is particularly attractive.A time or opportunity comes "when a man's lusts and corruptions meet a particularly provoking object or opportunity along life's way."
e.g., King David and Bathsheba - 2 Sam 11:2
This is when entering into temptation occurs. This is "the hour of temptation." This is when temptation is at its zenith, its greatest force.
Our Challenge
What temptations in your life have you already allowed to enter into your heart? What temptations are you already entertaining? What temptations do you each day embrace? Here is where real danger lies! You have allowed temptation into your life. You have given the seed of temptation a place to grow in the soil of your heart. Pray that God would strengthen you and intervene for you that the temptation would be rooted out so that you might not sin against Him. Pray that God would 'lead you not into temptation.' (Matt 6:13)