Matthew 6:13 as Jesus was teaching his disciples the priorities in prayer, he said “Lead Us Not Into Temptation” – and we think, “well we are good at that all by ourselves”, or “God would never lead us INTO temptation. And yet – 2 chapters earlier in Matthew 4:1 we read, “Then Jesus was LED BY THE SPIRIT into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”

Jesus was baptized in Matthew 3 and the Father says, “this is my son with whom I am well pleased”, and then immediately he was led into the wilderness by the Spirit for the purpose of being tempted by the Spirit. Well now perhaps we see why he taught us to pray, “lead us not into temptation”. It’s sort of like the prayer in the garden, if possible let this cup pass… but not my will but yours.

When I read this my mind jumps to several passages. Proverbs 21:1 says, “a king’s heart is like channeled water in the Lord’s hand: he directs wherever he chooses.” Now, I don’t have time for a discussion on free will and sovereignty but both are clear here. Water does what does, but God creates the boundaries. So stay on the focus here about God ordained temptation. If you are going through – God has set the parameters – God has directed the river’s edge of the channel to go where he desires for his purpose, you make choices but he made the channel. Then 21:2 says, “all a person’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the hearts.”

And in my quiet time yesterday, I read Proverbs 17:3 – “A crucible for silver, and a smelter for gold, and the Lord is the tester of hearts.” Back in 21:3 Solomon writes, “doing what is righteous and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.”

Doing happens in Action, not in philosophy. Yes, if you are IN Christ, you are positionally the “righteousness of God”, BUT Righteousness DOING often begins in the wilderness, in temptation, led by the Spirit. God, the tester of the hearts, is doing something in you.

Back in Matthew 4:2, “After he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights… he was hungry” – Well yeah –

“Ok Lord, if you want to send me into difficulty, just feed me well, fill me up, and then we are ready to go…” and God says, “yeah, well – no.”

God often empties us BEFORE he uses us and leads us into temptation where he smelts us. He was hungry – when we are hungry, we decide what is right to fill us… and that reveals a lot about our hearts. we must decide that God will be my filling.

If God has led us into the temptation – my mind went right to James 1:2 “consider it JOY… whenever you experience various trials”. Now it does say it IS Joy – it says Consider it – that means to regard it, but figure it as – truth is it may NOT be Joyful or Happy, but we must decide, regard it as, Joy when we face testing. Why? Because good is coming on the other side.

James 1:3 – “Because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance and let endurance have its full effect, that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing”

In the smelting process, the raw ore has everything that is worthless burned away and the precious is what is left. I’ve heard that when smelting gold the smith burns away all the dross until he can see his face in the melted gold. Well, 1) that takes intense heat and 2) there needs to be a crucible to hold the ore while it is heated – Again in Proverbs 17:3, the Lord is our Crucible, that holds us, the Smelter that is doing the work, as he tests our hearts.

Go read the rest of James 1 as well and look at temptation – v12 says “blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial for when he has stood the test he will receive a crown of life”. But that’s when we let the Lord lead, and hold us. But if you read on it says that if WE take over the process and we let OUR desires rule, it leads to sin and sin to death.

But if we allow The Spirit to lead us… go back to Matthew 4 – Jesus led by the Spirit – look at the little part of the process revealed.

• He was Hungry – “tell these stones to become bread”

i.e. fill your hunger – and hungry Jesus could have done that, but he responded, v4 “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus wasn’t going to cheaply fill his hunger.

Jesus was about to begin the ministry he had planned from the foundation of the earth. He left Heaven, laid his glory aside, and the temptation comes

• Throw yourself down God will command his angers concerning you

i.e. see if God will keep his word – as he quotes Psalm 91:11-12 – Remember in the Garden of Eden we learned that satan always calls into question the Word of God and the Goodness of God – thus the Love of God. But Jesus responds, “it is written do not test the Lord.“

And then hungry, lonely, longing… satan tempts again…

• I will give you all these things if you fall down and worship me

the evil one often tempts us with what appears to be a short cut, but if followed we miss the real task, and we shift the object of worship. Jesus didn’t come the first time to be worshiped but to pay for our sin and you can’t short cut sacrifice. v10 Jesus said, “get away satan! it is written, worship the Lord your God and Serve him ONLY.”

In Temptation… We decide…

• who will fill our hunger
• will we trust God
• we will worship God ALONE
• we will serve God ALONE

When we fail in temptation it comes down to hunger, trust, worship, and service.

When we are tempted – led by the Lord…

• we learn about ourselves
• we learn about God
• we must stand behind and with the Word of God
• we get ready for the battle and service to come

in Matthew then Jesus withdraws from his home town and goes to Capernaum in Galilea and v17 says “from then on Jesus began to preach, ‘repent, because the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.’”

Don’t be afraid of temptation – the Lord holds us in it like the crucible that can withstand the heat and contain us as we melt and the impurities are burned away – then as his face is visible we are read to be shaped and