Encouragement in Times of Temptation (Part 2)

Dear Bethelites,

1 Corinthians 10:13, 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.

In our previous pastoral chat, as we considered the theme, “Encouragement in times of temptation,” in 1 Corinthians 10:13, we had touched on the first point (1) your temptation is not unique - but such as is common to man.  Today, we will continue to look at the second point.

II. You do not have to sin

Verse 13b, But God is faithful.

No believer can ever say, “I have no choice, the temptation was too great.  I cannot help it, and I just have to give in to the temptation.  Or the devil will make me do it.”  We have to understand this very important point that no one, not even the devil, can make us sin.  Though Satan may be powerful, he cannot even make an unbeliever sin, how much more a believer.  People sin wilfully.  But as believers, we do not need to sin because we have a resource that is greater than all our temptations.  Our God is faithful.

God knows all our strengths and weaknesses.  He knows what is good for us to go through at this moment.  You may be a faithful believer but God wants you to be an even better Christian, and He allows you to go through certain trials, not to destroy but to strengthen even more.  Or you may have been proud and God does not want you to live in pride, and He allows you to go through trials as a refining process, again not to destroy but to humble you.  Nonetheless, whatever God would allow into your life, He will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able.

There are times in life when people would say, “I cannot take it anymore, God has allowed this thing to happen in my life, I have no choice, so I have to sin.”  The Apostle Paul says, “No!  God will not suffer you, which means He will not allow or permit you, to be tempted above that you are able.  You do not have to give up!  You do not have to sin!”  Do you think God does not know what you are going through?  Do you think He is not in sovereign control of the events in your life that you, as a child of God, bought by His precious blood, need to resort to lie, cheat and steal?  God is faithful, He will not allow you to do that.

In the gospel of John 18, there was a very heart-warming and touching example of God’s faithfulness that He would not allow His beloved children to go through the trials when they were not ready.  In the Garden of Gethsemane, when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, He asked them twice whom they had come to arrest.  Twice they answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.”  And Jesus said to them, “I have told you (twice) that I am he: if therefore ye seek me, let these people go their way.”  Why did Jesus do that?  He wanted to prevent His disciples from being arrested in order that the Scriptures might be fulfilled which says, “Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.”  Jesus knew that the disciples were not ready for such a test.  If they were arrested, they would have been devastated, their faith would be destroyed, and Jesus would not permit it.  Later on, we learn from church history that all the twelve disciples (minus Judas Iscariot) died a martyr’s death, except the Apostle John who was exiled for life on the Island of Patmos.  Church tradition tells us that when Peter was about to be crucified, he said to his persecutors that he was unworthy to die like the Lord Jesus Christ, and requested to be crucified upside down instead.  Andrew was crucified on an X-cross, that is the reason why Saint Andrew’s College has the symbol of the X-cross.  All the disciples went through great persecution, imprisonment and hardship for the sake of the gospel, but they did not go through those things until they were ready to experience them.

Dear friend, if God allows certain circumstances and situations into your life, He knows that you are able to bear it, and you are ready for it.  You do not have to sin, but to believe that God is faithful, and He will give you the strength and ability to go through it.

III. Victory is through temptation

1 Corinthians 10:13c, But will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Many believers want victory in their Christian life, but they want victory without the temptation (as mentioned earlier, the word temptation (peirasmos) can mean a trial, test or a temptation).  The only way one can have the victory is through temptation.  Notice the phrase a way; in other words, there is a certain way, a particular way, or a definite way.  There is only one way to escape from temptation, no matter what kind of temptation it is, the only escape is through it.  The construction of the sentence is very interesting because the second part of the sentence explains the way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Whether it is a test by God to prove our faithfulness, or it is a temptation by Satan to cause us to fall into sin, there is only one way we can pass the test.  We escape temptation not by getting out of it, but by passing through it.  God does not take us out, but He will see us through by helping us to bear it.

Let me give you some biblical examples.

a) The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted.  It was the Father’s will that the Son should be there in the wilderness (not out of the wilderness, but in the wilderness), and Jesus did not leave until He went through the three temptations.  He escaped the trials by enduring and bearing them, in the power of the Spirit.

b) In the book of Genesis, Joseph faced trial after trial; he was betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife, and sent to prison and forgotten.  Joseph escaped the trials by enduring the betrayal, slavery and prison, in the power of the Spirit.

c) Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den, and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, were thrown into the fiery furnace, and they miraculously survived.  They escaped the trials by enduring the lion’s den and the fiery furnace, in the power of the Spirit.

Dear friend, I do not know what is your lion’s den, or fiery furnace; it could be the death of a loved one, or a financial crisis, or a difficult boss you have to face at work.  But it is always the same case, if you want victory from temptation, the only way is through the temptation.

But that does not mean you purposely put yourself in the path of temptation that may cause you to fall into sin.  For example, you know that there are certain ungodly websites you should not be visiting, and you say to yourself, “Well, God is faithful, and He will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.  So, I am going to purposely visit those websites, and see how God is going to help us to view those pictures, and yet not lust after them.  I am going to be victorious.  That is foolishness!”  The biblical mandate is to flee fornication, to flee youthful lust.  The command has already been given to us; we must do all we can to avoid the temptation.  But despite us doing all we can to avoid the temptation, it still comes to us.  When God allows it, as a form of a test, to come into our lives, He knows that we are ready for it, and we are able to bear it.

What we need to do is;

a) We need to pray for the strength to endure the testing.  If we do not pray, we can be sure that the test will turn into a temptation that will cause us to fall into sin.

b) We need to trust God.  Praying without trusting is useless!  We must believe that God has a purpose for everything that comes into the lives of His beloved children.  When we are tested, we should gladly endure it in His power, for the sake of the gospel and for our own spiritual growth.

c) We need to focus on our Lord Jesus Christ who is the author and finisher of our faith.  He is the originator, the One who caused us to believe in Him, and He who has saved us, will keep us, and He will complete and finish the work of faith that He has done in our lives.

Dear friend, to summarise; (1) your temptation is not unique (it is the common experiences of man), (2) you do not have to sin (because you have a source that is greater than all your temptations, and God is faithful), and (3) if you want victory (you can have victory), but victory is only possible through temptation, and you must be able to bear and endure it, in God’s power.

With love in Christ,

Pastor Paul Cheng