Hi Denise,
Here are a few places where Ray explains about temptation and lust.
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php?topic=2158.0 ---------
Temptation is usually translated from "peirazo" and it means to test, scrutinize, prove, examine, etc. None of these things are "sin." When a man sees a pretty girl, the first thing he does is look. This is not a sin, in and by itself. However a temptation has been presented and the man's mind is now presented with a couple of options: [1] continue looking and examining the lady's body in a sexual, lustful, self-gratifying way, or [2] realize that this is a temptation that could lead to lust and sin, and therefore LOOK AWAY.
The temptation is not the sin. It is not rocket science to understand. Someone offers you a large amount of money to tell a lie. You think to yourself "with that money I could pay off all my debts, but to get it I would have to lie and lying is a sin, and I refuse to sin." You then say, "NO, I will not lie for money." You did not sin. The temptation presented itself, you understood it, you evaluated it and took the high road by not giving into the temptation to the point that you [1] began to actually lust for the money, [2] agreed to offer, and [3] carried it out by telling the lie. When James says "lust," the word really means "desire." And so, notice what he says,
"Then when desire has CONCEIVED, it brings forth sin...." (James 1:14).
If there were zero desire attached to a temptation, then there would not BE a temptation at all, but Jesus REALLY WAS TEMPTED. He just wouldn't allow Himself to begin fulfilling whatever the desire may have been. I can always be tempted by a good chocolate cake or good ice cream, but I often do not give in to the tempation, because I know that I don't want to gain more weight or whatever the reason may be for denying it. Having a desire to look at a beautiful woman is not a sin unless one gives in to where that desire will naturally lead, and allows sin to conceive.
http://bible-truths.com/lake16-D4.htm ---------------
And so Jesus, Who knew the temptations of the flesh (the "temptations," not the "lusts"). Jesus was tempted, but never lusted. Once you "lust," you have already "SINNED." Jesus went right to the heart of the problem of spiritual morality and spiritual conversion:
"You have heard that it was said by them of old time, you shall not commit adultery..."
And there are many men who have been obedient to this part of the commandment.
"But I say unto you, that whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matt. 5:27-28).
So what is a man to do? No viral man has the ability to NOT LUST after pretty women (and as Billy Crystal would have us know, sometimes not so pretty women). It is as natural as a knee-jerk, and if you women hear a different story from your husbands, know that they are lying through their teeth. All men lust after women. But it's a sin. Why is it a sin? Because Jesus said so. (And other reasons I don't have time to go into now). It's a sin and men are powerless to overcome it. What are we to do? Not even marriage will totally solve the spiritual aspect of this problem. But there is a way to conquer this and all sins.
Jesus never sinned. Why not? Why didn't Jesus sin? I have said before: Because His Father wouldn't let Him sin, and because His Father inspired Jesus through His Holy Spirit to turn from the temptation every time. Jesus' motivation to not sin was much greater than His temptation to sin, and the stronger motivator (the love of God's Spirit in Him) always won out. This is how Jesus "overcame the world." Now then, is this powerful motivator available to us? Yes, thank God, it is:
"But you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you..." (Acts 1:08).
And so, when a man who is tempted to spend more time looking at a woman than he should, looking at her to lust after her, the Spirit of God will give him power to turn away. God won't make you or force you to turn away, but He will give you the power to turn away, and then you have to do the turning. And should you fail to turn away before you actually lust after her, then you must "pluck out your eye. No not your literal, physical, organ of the body, but the lustful eye of your heart.
No man's physical eyes has ever lusted after anything. All lust comes from the heart, the carnal mind, and that part of the carnal mind must be "plucked out," or "cut off." But you must be the one who does the plucking and cutting or God will intervene and "cast your whole body into Gehenna fire" in a later Judgment where this spiritual fire is called "The Lake of Fire."
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And so we have proof from this very verse that spiritually plucking out an eye or spiritually cutting off a hand or foot, IS spiritually being purged by Christ's spiritual Gehenna fire! That is what Gehenna fire represents-the spiritual judging and correcting of the human heart and carnal mind. This is what spiritual overcoming is.
http://bible-truths.com/email11.htm -------------
Why would Jesus tell us to pray that God should NOT lead us into temptation [Gk: trial] when, in reality, we DO go through trials?
After all, Jesus was led of the spirit into the wilderness for the express purpose of being "tried."
Then James comes along and says
"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, NEITHER TEMPTS HE ANY MAN." (James 1:13).
And if that is bad enough, James first tells us in James 1:2 to
"...COUNT IT ALL JOY WHEN YE FALL INTO DIVERS TEMPTATIONS"!
What is going on here?
Although this might sound like a triple contradiction, it is not.
First let's be abundantly clear that God, HIMSELF, does not ever do the actual "trying or tempting."
"And the SERPENT said unto Eve... And when the woman SAW that the tree was good for food, and that it was PLEASANT TO THE EYES ['...the lust of the eyes ... is NOT OF the Father...' John 2:16], and a tree to be DESIRED to make one wise, she TOOK of the fruit thereof, and DID EAT... And the woman said, THE SERPENT BEGUILED [deceived] ME..." (Gen. 3:6 & 13).
"And lead us not into temptation but DELIVER US FROM THE EVIL ONE [Satan]" (Matt. 6:13).
"...when YOU FALL into divers [various] temptations [trials]..." (James 1:2).
"But every man is tempted, when he is DRAWN AWAY OF HIS OWN LUST, and enticed. THEN when lust has conceived, it brings forth SIN: and sin, when it is finished [full grown], brings DEATH" (James 1:14-15).
From all of these examples it is abundantly clear that it is not the OBJECT that is the TEMPTATION, but rather the temptation COMES FROM WITHIN, not from without. It was not the "tree" that MADE Eve lust. It is not the "pretty woman" that MAKES a man lust. The LUST IS IN THE MIND, IN THE HEART, and therefore, the trial IS IN THE HEART AND MIND, not in the literal flesh.
And so we pray that God should not lead us into temptation, but rather DELIVER US FROM THE EVIL ONE [Satan] WHO DOES LEAD US INTO TEMPTATION.
But notice again, we pray that we should be "DELIVERED." We cannot be 'delivered' from something UNLESS WE ARE ALREADY IN IT! God intends that we get "IN IT"--trials and temptations, which are GOOD FOR US, AFTER we have gone through them.
The longer we live the Christian walk, the better we should get at this. Hence Paul tells us,
"For if we would JUDGE OURSELVES, we should not be judged" (I Cor. 11:31).
The MORE we 'judge ourselves' the LESS we are "lead into temptation." We learn to cut it off at the pass, as they say. It is by God's divine counsel that we are led into temptation (even if God never DIRECTLY tries or tempts us), and it is by God's divine counsel that He delivers us from the "evil one."
Hope that helps a little.
God be with you,
Ray