Thoughts from the Sermon, “The First Temptation” Genesis 3:1-7

Thoughts from the Sermon, “The First Temptation” Genesis 3:1-7

by Vermon Pierre, Lead Pastor

1. The original origin of every temptation is spiritual attack.

There are spiritual forces opposed to God all around us, the chief of them being Satan. He was the one behind the first attack against mankind and he and his demonic forces continue to use the powerful weapon of temptation to attack mankind.

2. The beginning of every temptation is a lie.

What makes temptation so insidiously powerful is that it almost always comes to us as a lie with a few truths mixed in. The demonic forces want us to accept a reality apart from God and downplay the consequences for us accepting this reality.

3. The hook behind every temptation is desire

Temptation encourages us to let our desires go out of control. We let them become obsessions that we must satisfy, even if they go against God’s word. These obsessive desires can never be fully satisfied; they demand more and more from us all the while slowly emaciating our souls.

With Eve we see her crave to have a certain experience of pleasure (Gen 3:6 “the tree was good for food…it was a delight to the eyes”) and to achieve a better status in life than the one she currently had (Gen 3:6 “the tree was to be desired to make one wise”). Unfortunately she gave in to her cravings. Adam soon followed her in her sin. And the consequences for this were devastating for them and indeed for all humanity.

4. The only one who beat every temptation is Jesus

Jesus is the new man, the second Adam, who faced every temptation but defeated them all so that through him we also can defeat temptation. We can now with confidence come to God and receive all the grace we need to beat back and even overcome every temptation we face (Hebrews 4:14-16).

The fundamental key to this is building a life that is characterized by a simple, no reservation commitment to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3). We must strip away all our excuses and dedicate ourselves to following Jesus and obeying his commands above all things, knowing that real joy and peace can only be found through him.