Trouble and Temptation

“The natural man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward–and the Christian is born to temptation just as certainly and necessarily.” – Charles Spurgeon.

Trouble and its associated pain, is what wakens us to the devil and our own sin. Physical and emotional pain due to sin, opens our eyes to spiritual depravity.

Temptation is the devil’s effort to draw us into sin. Pleasure is the allure of temptation although pain is its reality.

The devil fans the embers of our worldly lust and desires. If we allow the embers to spark and flame then our desires become our will. With our will decidedly wicked, the temptation is acted upon and our will becomes a deed of sin.

Sin unabated leads to death, if not in this world, then certainly in the next.

“But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren.” (James 1:14-15)

Grab ahold of that last statement by James. “Do not err, my beloved brethren”. “Do not err” is a warning for us not to do, which shows that sin is controllable. To do, or not do, is a product of our will. We err! Not the devil or someone else. It is our own doings.

"to err is human; to forgive, divine". Yes, “to err is human”, but it is a product of our carnal self, our corrupted body which holds sway over our will.

“to forgive, divine”, forgiveness from the one Divine, Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. Fortunately for us, it is why He died on the cross

So, we must be careful and “watch” so as not to err into sin.

“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak,” said Jesus to James, John and Peter at Gethsemane. (Matthew 26:41)

God gave us free will so we can choose whether or not to “enter” into temptation. The devil can’t force us into sin, but he certainly can tempt and deceive us into it.

“It is our duty to be always on our watch against Satan because we do not know when he will come. He is like a thief–he gives no intimation of his approach. Like the assassin, he will steal upon his victim. If Satan acted always above-board–if he were a bold and open adversary, we might deal with him–it is because he meets us unawares, and besets us in dark and miry places on the way, that we have need to pray against temptation and have need to hear the Savior’s admonition, “What I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch.” – Charles Spurgeon.

Trouble comes to the natural man that allows his desires to become inflamed, and then acts upon those desires. The act of sinning is powered by the will, but is not the will the very thing which allowed those desires to become inflamed in the first place? First the will allows, then second the will causes to act.

The door to sin must be opened before we can step through it to sin. Is it not the opening of the door of opportunity to sin a function of the will, just as the actual act of walking through it is as well?

Augustine said, “The choice of the will, then, is truly free when it is not the slave of vices and sins. God gave to the will such freedom, and now that it has been lost through its own fault, it cannot be restored save by Him Who could bestow it”

It is to man’s advantage to work in obedience to God’s will. It is to his detriment to act according to his own. Which will we choose to obey, ours or God’s, is a function of our free will. The spirit is “willing” to choose God but the corruptible flesh is weak. Which will we choose will determine how we act and who we are, for, “in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

But to choose our own will over God’s will is to be, “carnally minded” which ends up in one place, “death”! (Romans 8:6)

The natural man is born to trouble because he adheres to his own will. This allows entrance for the devil and causes man to fall to temptation. The Christian is born to temptation but rises above it because he is following God’s will.