Home	Our Hope
Bible Study		September 25, 2011
Where Evil Grows

Introduction

We are triune beings (3 parts in 1) who are sold to sin. Therefore it should be no surprise that each part has weaknesses that can lead us to sin. This lesson takes a look at this and at examples of it from the Bible.

Lesson (1 John 2:16)

¹⁶ For everything in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - comes not from the Father but from the world

John makes a point here that is important to our understanding of our sinful nature. There are three sources of temptation within each of us. We'll break them down one by one.

Lust of the Flesh

The lusts of the flesh are primarily needs of the body that are out of control. Stimulating the body in one or many ways has become the objective of the sinner.

For example, we need food to survive but an out of control desire for food is unhealthy for us spiritually and also physically. But even something like heroin, which you might think we need exactly none of, is something that our body has a need for. In this case our body has receptors for heroin because our body creates endorphins which are close relatives of heroin. These endorphins stimulate the body in the same way heroin does. Thus even illegal drug use should be seen as a natural body need that is out of control.

Lust of the Eyes

The lusts of the eyes are not lusts for visual stimulation of the eyes. In that sense the eyes are part of the body. But the lusts referred to here are lustings after things that are seen by the eyes.

These lusts are for wants, not needs. They are wanting to have something just to have it. And they include wanting things we know we shouldn't have and things that are not good for us.

Pride of Life

Today we would use the word ego to describe this source of temptation. It includes everything from perverting the natural desires to be successful and for self-improvement to anti-social behaviors.

Examples

Next we'll look at specific examples of these lusts, but it's important to understand that each of us is different. We each have different strengths and weaknesses in these areas and also in particular kinds of temptations. What might be a temptation for one person may not be for another.

Name all the lusts of the flesh you can think of.

Name all of the lusts of the eyes you can think of.

Name all the pride of life problems you can think of.

Biblical Examples

Satan may tempt us in any one of these areas or in all of them, even at the same time. There are two examples from the Bible where he did this. The first is the temptation of Eve from Genesis 3

¹ Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

² The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³ but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"

⁴ "You will not certainly die," the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ "For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

In the highlights above we see that Satan's temptation of Eve reached into all three of the temptation areas we have covered. The only temptation he could offer was the fruit of the tree and likely he chose Eve as his target because she would be weakest to the temptations it offered.

The same pattern occurs in Satan's temptation of Jesus from Luke 4 after 40 days of fasting.

³ The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."

⁴ Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man shall not live on bread alone.'"

⁵ The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶ And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. ⁷ If you worship me, it will all be yours."

⁸ Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'"

⁹ The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. ¹⁰ For it is written:

   "'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully;
¹¹ they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"

¹² Jesus answered, "It is said: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

¹³ When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

Dealing with Temptation

As sure as we live and breathe, temptation will come upon us. These are the bodies we are born with. Romans 6 says

⁶ For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin

But we should be unresponsive to these temptations. It should be like poking a dead man with a stick. We see this concept described in Romans 6 "² […] We are those who have died to sin […]" and "¹¹ […] count yourselves dead to sin […]."

But how do we make ourselves unresponsive to temptations?

• Keep in the Word of God
• Prayer, listening for the Spirit and his guidance, dreams
• Practice / Experience
• Know your weaknesses
  • Be sensitive to input from loved ones and friends
• Don't go where you will be weak
  • If you must, go prepared

We close with a verse from Galatians 5 "²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires."