Temptation

Author: Daniel Miller
April 01, 2025

Temptation

Recently, as we have been going through the gospel of Matthew in our Sunday morning service, we looked at the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4. There, Jesus provides our perfect example of how we ought to fight against the temptations that we face on a daily basis. This temptation account in Matthew 4 was Satan’s best effort at getting Jesus to fail at being our perfect Savior. Instead, Satan failed.
The temptations we routinely face may, at times, feel like Satan’s full-blown attempt to get us to sin. Other times, temptations are subtle, yet persistent. When the topic of temptation comes up in theological and practical studies, we often talk about temptations that are sexual in nature. Lust is probably one of the first things that comes to mind when you hear the word “temptation.” What about all the other ways that Satan tempts us to sin? How do we fight against temptation for all these other ways that we sin?
James 1:13–15 reminds us that our temptations cannot be blamed on or attributed to God. One would think that James would place the blame for temptations squarely on the shoulders of Satan and exonerate us entirely. Instead, he says in verse 14, “each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.” We are ultimately responsible for ourselves when we fall into temptation. Even though we are saved and sanctified through His grace, we still have a nature that has a bent toward sin. In this passage, James reminds us that temptation to sin is not a sinful act, but when we act on that temptation, we sin. In other words, you may have thoughts that run through your head that if acted upon or if desired, you are sinning. However, the mere passing thought is itself not a sin.
An application from 2 Corinthians 10:5 compliments this passage in James nicely. In context, Paul is reminding the Corinthians that each believer is engaged in spiritual warfare, rather than physical warfare. In other words, the important struggles are the ones that happen spiritually rather than physically. While explaining this, Paul reminds us of the importance of using our heart and mind to engage in spiritual warfare. In doing so, Paul says at the end of verse 5 that “we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” Really?! Every thought?! How are we supposed to take most of our thoughts captive, let alone all our thoughts? Does God really care about the way we think that much?
Through this passage, the Lord reminds us that spiritual warfare begins in the heart and mind. We do sinful things because we desire sinful things. We desire sinful things because we think about sinful things. We think about sinful things because we live in a world saturated with sin and because we have a natural inclination towards sin. Spiteful words or words spoken in anger come out of our mouths because we thought about it first. Lies pass through our lips because we first considered how to hide the truth. We gossip because we want to share information on our mind about another person. Outbursts of anger, deception, and lust are just some of the regular sins we commit that first pass through the gateway of our minds.
All these sins first originate in our minds. That is why God commands us to take every thought captive in obedience to Christ. Taking every thought captive means that we submit our thinking to the word of God in every single instance. Anytime you could ask the question, “What should I be thinking in this circumstance?” the Word of God will always give the answer. This first step is crucial to our spiritual fight against temptation: stop and submit your thinking to the Word. So many times, it doesn’t even cross our minds to take this step, and we fall into temptation.
So where should you start in your struggle against temptation? First, recognize that your mind is where warfare begins. Don’t take lightly the impact your thoughts have on fighting temptation. Don’t think that you can mull over whatever thoughts you want in the privacy of your own mind and not be affected by the consequences. Second, saturate your thinking with the Word of God. To do this, you must be in the Word regularly and ponder its significance for your life. Be a doer of the Word and not a hearer only (James 1:22). Third, talk to the Lord about the frequent temptations you encounter. If you don’t know your weak areas, ask the Lord to “search me and know me.” Cast these burdens upon the Lord because He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7). Fourth, sit under the regular teaching and preaching of the Word in your local church. How frequently the Lord uses these times to bring about conviction in our lives!
This is not an exhaustive list but is a foundation for our struggle with temptation and sin. Until we are in the presence of our Lord, we must continue to fight against temptation, waging spiritual warfare in our hearts and minds. Thank the Lord that “we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, ye without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

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