August 21, 2020: SOAP #3914:  Jeremiah 21, 24, 27; Psalm 118; 1John 2

Scripture:  1John (NIV) 2:15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does— comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

Observation:  John cauterizes all the temptations that comes from the world’s system into three categories: 1. They make the flesh feel good. 2. They are pleasing to the eye, or 3. They appeal to our pride and make us think better about ourselves (prove who we are.)  

These are the same ones Satan, as the serpent in Genesis 3:6 used to tempt Eve:  1.  The fruit was good to eat, 2.  It was pleasing to the eye; it looked really good.  3.  Eve would be like God to know the difference between good and evil. 

Hebrews 4:15 tells us that Jesus “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” 

Yes, Jesus was tempted in these same three ways.  Matthew 4:1-10  1. He was hungry and was tempted to satisfy his flesh by turning a stone into bread.  2.  He was to look at the kingdoms of the earth that could be his.  And 3.  He could prove who He was by casting himself off the highest point of the temple. 

Application:  Almost all the advertising today appeals to one of these three areas:  makes the flesh feel good, pleasing to the eyes, or make us think better about ourselves (prove who we are.)   In many ways, the world glamorizes these three temptations.  Where Eve fell, Jesus overcame!  And Jesus, by His Holy Spirit, lives in me to help me overcome!   Praise His Name!     

Prayer:   Lord Jesus, oh how I need your forgiveness and how I need your Holy Spirit to live victorious in this world!  With you living in me, I have a life inside that has already overcome the temptations of this world!  Amen

Pastor Leon|
Making friends for time and eternity!