It does not take an exceptionally observant person to see that the world is broken. I’ve made a similar claim to this in my very first post. There are conflicts going on all around us. Most of these conflicts, we cannot see. I promise you that every single conscious person deals with internal struggles of a moral nature. Regardless of one’s religious worldview, we have an innate sense regarding right and wrong (Rom 2:15) and there are constant struggles within each of us deciding which way to go in each situation / circumstance.
We are not without guidance regarding these struggles. The Bible is very clear that we are tempted to sin in three specific ways: “16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.[1]” We can find illustration after illustration all throughout Scripture (and our own lives) where these three situations have impacted the lives of historical figures.
In the Garden of Eden (Gen 3), when Eve was tempted, all three of these temptations were employed.
1Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.[2]
Satan’s response to Eve was first to question God’s word, and to accuse God of being unloving because He (God) wanted to withhold something from Adam and Eve. In verse 6, we see all three forms of temptation present: lust of the flesh (good for food), lust of the eyes (pleasant to the eyes), and pride of life (desired to make one wise).
J Warner Wallace has stated numerous times in his podcasts that he has identified three motives for a person committing a crime. Every crime he has investigated involved at least one of these three elements: sex, greed, and / or pursuit of power. No matter what the crime is, the person committing the crime is motivated by at least one of those three areas. Amazingly, those three motives line up precisely with what the Bible declares: sex (lust of the flesh), greed (lust of the eyes), pursuit of power (pride of life). These are the three ways in which the devil and his minions wage spiritual war against us (God’s creation and image bearers) to keep us from coming to saving faith in Jesus OR to make us ineffective and unusable if we’re Christians.
Time and again we have record of these attempts to derail or destroy someone God is using for a specific purpose. Samson had a wandering eye, got involved in illicit relationships, and lost his anointing from God for a time as a result. King David had an affair with Bathsheba and planned the murder of her husband to keep the affair secret. The only person who successfully overcame temptation was Jesus when He went into the wilderness to fast for 40 days after His baptism (Matt 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13). In both records, the devil tempted Jesus in the same three areas highlighted above:
- Turn stones into bread—lust of the flesh
- Jump and angels will protect you—pride of life
- Behold the glory of the world, I’ll give it to you if you worship me—lust of the eyes
This is how the writer of Hebrews was able to declare of Jesus, “15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.[3]”
We are not without means and guidance for how to handle temptation in our own lives. Apart from Christ, a person does not struggle with sin as a Christian does; they live in sin and enjoy it, though their conscience impresses upon them what is right and wrong in their doings. Christians, however, are indwelt by the Holy Ghost and He works with our conscience to guide us away from temptation, but not all are to be handled the same way.
James (half brother of Jesus, bishop of the church in Jerusalem, writer of the Book of James) writing to Christians declares that we are to resist the devil and he will flee from us (James 4:7). This does not work in all situations, though. For many instances where the temptation centers on lust of the flesh, eyes, or pride of life, resisting can work. There is a subcategory within lust of the flesh that we are not told to resist, but to flee. As it pertains to sexual immorality (and all that falls under that banner), we are commanded to flee from it. In 1 Cor 6:18 Paul writes, “18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.[4]” Sexual sin falls under the category of lust of the flesh, however it is unique to all other types of sin, as Paul explains. Sexual sin is so unique that we are told to flee from it, not to resist it.
One of the best illustrations regarding how to handle temptation to sexual sin is found in Joseph (Gen 39:7-12). Joseph was put in charge of Potiphar’s house. While Potiphar was away, his wife sought on several occasions to seduce Joseph. Her last attempt, she had him cornered and he ran from her, leaving some of his clothes behind. Her first, subtle attempts, he was able to resist, however when he was fully pressed to commit sexual sin, he didn’t resist; Joseph fled from it! Had he tried to resist, it’s not hard to speculate that the record of events would be drastically different. Try as we might, as it pertains to sexual enticement, our resolve wears down quickly and we often give into lustful desires.
Sin is a reality of life. It is so prevalent and vile that God cannot be in the presence of sin due to His holy nature. To deal with the issue of sin and the destruction it causes, Jesus sacrificed Himself for each of us. Sin (disobedience to God) causes separation from God as we find when Adam and Eve are sent out of the Garden of Eden for their sin. Aside from Christianity, no other religious worldview has a definite answer for sin. Some religions deny the idea of sin, others promote a “good works outweigh your bad works” system, but there’s no way to be certain you’ve overcome the debt. Only in Christianity is a person certain that the debt is paid because God, Himself, through Jesus, paid the debt in full. That is the heart of the Gospel message!
~In Christ!
[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), 1 Jn 2:16.
[2] The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Ge 3:1–6.
[3] The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Heb 4:15.
[4] The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), 1 Co 6:17–18.
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