The Anatomy of Temptation

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The Anatomy of Temptation

• Understanding Satans Primary Objectives

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The Anatomy of Temptation

• Matthew 4 1-11 (NKJV)
• Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the
  wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when
  He had fasted forty days and forty nights,
  afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter
  came to Him, he said, If You are the Son of God,
  command that these stones become bread. But He
  answered and said, It is written, Man shall not
  live by bread alone, but by every word that
  proceeds from the mouth of God.

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The Anatomy of Temptation

• Then the devil took Him up into the holy city,
  set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said
  to Him, If You are the Son of God, throw
  Yourself down. For it is written He shall give
  His angels charge over you, and, In their hands
  they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot
  against a stone. Jesus said to him, It is
  written again, You shall not tempt the Lord your
  God. Again, the devil took Him up on an
  exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the
  kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he
  said to Him, All these things I will give You if
  You will fall down and worship me. Then Jesus
  said to him, Away with you, Satan! For it is
  written, You shall worship the Lord your God,
  and Him only you shall serve. Then the devil
  left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered
  to Him.

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Satans 3 Primary Objectives in Temptation
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1. Get You to Doubt God

• Deuteronomy 81-4 (NKJV)
• Every commandment which I command you today you
  must be careful to observe, that you may live and
  multiply, and go in and possess the land of which
  the Lord swore to your fathers. And you shall
  remember that the Lord your God led you all the
  way these forty years in the wilderness, to
  humble you and test you, to know what was in your
  heart, whether you would keep His commandments or
  not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger,
  and fed you with manna which you did not know nor
  did your fathers know, that He might make you
  know that man shall not live by bread alone but
  man lives by every word that proceeds from the
  mouth of the Lord. Your garments did not wear out
  on you, nor did your foot swell these forty
  years.

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1. Get You to Doubt God

• Matthew 633 (NKJV)
• But seek first the kingdom of God and His
  righteousness, and all these things shall be
  added to you.

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2. Get You to Try to Manipulate God

• Matthew 45-7 (NKJV)
• Then the devil took Him up into the holy city,
  set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said
  to Him, If You are the Son of God, throw
  Yourself down. For it is written He shall give
  His angels charge over you, and, In their hands
  they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot
  against a stone. Jesus said to him, It is
  written again, You shall not tempt the Lord your
  God.

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2. Get You to Try to Manipulate God

• Psalm 9111-12 (NKJV)
• For He shall give His angels charge over you, To
  keep you in all your ways. In their hands they
  shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot
  against a stone.
• Deuteronomy 616 (NKJV)
• You shall not tempt the Lord your God as you
  tempted Him in Massah.

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2. Get You to Try to Manipulate God

• Exodus 172-7 (NKJV)
• Therefore the people contended with Moses, and
  said, Give us water, that we may drink. So
  Moses said to them, Why do you contend with me?
  Why do you tempt the Lord? And the people
  thirsted there for water, and the people
  complained against Moses, and said, Why is it
  you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us
  and our children and our livestock with thirst?
  So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, What
  shall I do with this people? They are almost
  ready to stone me! And the Lord said to Moses,
  Go on before the people, and take with you some
  of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand
  your rod with which you struck the river, and go.
  Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock
  in Horeb and you shall strike the rock, and
  water will come out of it, that the people may
  drink.

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2. Get You to Try to Manipulate God

• And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of
  Israel. So he called the name of the place Massah
  and Meribah, because of the contention of the
  children of Israel, and because they tempted the
  Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not?

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3. Get You to Compromise Gods Plan

• Matthew 48-10 (NKJV)
• Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly
  high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of
  the world and their glory. And he said to Him,
  All these things I will give You if You will
  fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to
  him, Away with you, Satan! For it is written,
  You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him
  only you shall serve.

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3. Get You to Compromise Gods Plan

• Romans 117 (NKJV)
• For in it the righteousness of God is revealed
  from faith to faith as it is written, The just
  shall live by faith.

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3. Get You to Compromise Gods Plan

• Hebrews 1035-38 (NKJV)
• Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which
  has great reward. For you have need of endurance,
  so that after you have done the will of God, you
  may receive the promise For yet a little while,
  And He who is coming will come and will not
  tarry. Now the just shall live by faith But if
  anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in
  him.

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3. Get You to Compromise Gods Plan

• John 1231 (NKJV)
• Now is the judgment of this world now the ruler
  of this world will be cast out.
• John 1430 (NKJV)
• I will no longer talk much with you, for the
  ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing
  in Me.

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3. Get You to Compromise Gods Plan

• John 168-11 (NKJV)
• And when He has come, He will convict the world
  of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment of
  sin, because they do not believe in Me of
  righteousness, because I go to My Father and you
  see Me no more of judgment, because the ruler of
  this world is judged.

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3. Get You to Compromise Gods Plan

• 2 Corinthians 43-4 (NKJV)
• But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to
  those who are perishing, whose minds the god of
  this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest
  the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,
  who is the image of God, should shine on them.

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3. Get You to Compromise Gods Plan

• 1 John 519 (NKJV)
• We know that we are of God, and the whole world
  lies under the sway of the wicked one.

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3. Get You to Compromise Gods Plan

• Hebrews 218 (NKJV)
• For in that He Himself has suffered, being
  tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.