THE STONE OF TEMPTATION
Luke 8:13 “They on the rock are they, which when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.”
Temptation comes to everyone. You will not grow out of this, but you can learn to conquer temptation every time. What is a temptation? It is a desire to do something, especially something wrong. The first thing we need to know is this: temptation doesn’t come from God. James is clear about this in James 1:13, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.” If you don’t understand this very important point, you will wonder where this is coming from and why it is coming to you. Now that you and I have that forever settled, we need to know where temptation comes from. The next verse says it very clearly; we are tempted when we are drawn away with our own lust and enticed. The word enticed is very important, because where does the enticement come from? The devil, 100% of the time. We have lusts in our flesh, and the devil entices us, and when those two things come together, sin is born.
What we must understand is when we yield to that enticement and the lust of our flesh, we are putting stones in our soil. Those stones keep us from producing the desired result of the Word of God that we are hearing. It is not a lack of seed, the Word of God; it is because of yielding to the enticement we have put stones in our soil. People usually think, “If I am not seeing the results of the Word I am hearing, I need more Word.” Well, more Word will never hurt you, but if there are a lot of stones in your soil, no matter how much Word you are hearing, you will not see any results. You will just be frustrated. We must tend our soil; we must make sure our heart is clean and clear so that when we hear the Word, we will be able to see the results of the Word we are hearing.
I would love to tell you as you mature in Christ you will not face temptations, but it’s not true. That’s why even if a mature believer starts yielding to temptation, it’s not just about getting into sin; it also puts stones in your field that keep the Word of God from producing in your life. I really like this next scripture. People often misquote it, but it will set you free if you understand it. 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 you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.” There is nothing the devil can tempt you with that you are not able, with the grace of God, to resist. If it shows up, the first thought should be, “I can resist this.” That means we don’t have to have any stones in our soil because we can resist. We can resist and stay stone free.