Entering into Temptation

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. MATTHEW 26:41

In the middle of his directions for mortifying sin, Owen tells his readers to watch against the occasions of their sin, and then breaks off. This subject, he says, is too large to handle there: “I have at large in another treatise, about entering into temptations, treated of it.” That treatise appeared in 1658 as Of Temptation: The Nature and Power of It, and it belongs beside The Mortification of Sin as its twin. The one deals with the enemy inside; the other with the way that enemy finds help from outside.

Its text is the word of Christ to His sleeping disciples in Gethsemane. Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. Within the hour Peter would deny his Lord three times. The warning was not theoretical.

Tempted, and entering in

Owen begins by making a distinction that is simple and illuminating. To be tempted is one thing; to enter into temptation is another. Every Christian is tempted, and Christ Himself was tempted, without sin. Temptation in itself is anything that tends to draw a person away from obedience to God, whether from the devil, the world or our own hearts. We cannot avoid it. Christ did not tell His disciples to pray that they would never be tempted.

To enter into temptation, Owen explains, is something more. It is for a temptation to get such a hold on the mind and heart that the soul becomes entangled with it. The person begins to entertain it, to weigh it, to parley with it. He may not yet have sinned outwardly, but he is inside the net. Owen compares it to a man who has walked into a snare. He may still struggle free, but he is no longer walking freely.

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 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 ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 1 CORINTHIANS 10:12–13

The signs that we are entering

How does a person know that he is entering into temptation? Owen gives several signs, and they are uncomfortably recognisable.

One sign is a secret pleasure in the matter of the temptation. The heart begins to find the thing attractive, to return to it in thought, to enjoy imagining it, even while the will still says no.

Another is a growing slackness in the ordinary duties of the Christian life. Prayer becomes formal and brief; the Scriptures are read without appetite; the heart is cold in worship. Owen regarded this deadness not only as a result of temptation but as one of its chief doorways.

Another is when the soul begins to reason with the temptation, to argue its case, to consider exceptions. Eve’s conversation with the serpent is the pattern. The moment we start debating whether a sin might be allowable in this particular case, we are already inside the gate.

Owen also names seasons when temptation is especially dangerous. Seasons of great prosperity, when the heart grows easy. Seasons of spiritual deadness. Seasons of unusual spiritual privilege, when a person has received much and is in danger of being lifted up, as Paul was given a thorn lest he be exalted above measure. And seasons of self-confidence, which is the case of Peter.

And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. LUKE 22:31–32

Owen also reminds us of Hezekiah, a good king, whom God left to himself for a moment in the matter of the Babylonian envoys, to try him and to show him what was in his heart. No one, Owen insists, is beyond this danger. Every believer has, as it were, an hour of temptation appointed.

Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart. 2 CHRONICLES 32:31

Watch and pray

What, then, are we to do? Christ’s answer is twofold, and Owen follows it.

Pray. It is Christ Himself who taught His disciples to ask, Lead us not into temptation. Owen regarded this as a prayer to be prayed daily and seriously, not as a formality. We should ask God to keep us out of the paths where we would be exposed, and to keep us when we are exposed.

Watch. Owen gives a good deal of practical counsel about watching. Know your own heart, and especially the particular weaknesses of your temperament and circumstances, so that you know where you are likely to be attacked. Watch over the first approaches of temptation, when it is weakest and you are strongest. Consider the occasions and companies and situations that have led you into trouble before. Keep your heart with all diligence.

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. PROVERBS 4:23

But Owen’s deepest counsel about watching is not a technique at all. He believed that the best defence against temptation is a heart filled with a sense of the love of God in Christ. A soul that is busy enjoying God, that is often meditating on the cross, that is aware of the Father’s love and the Spirit’s presence, has little room for the pleasures temptation offers. The things that tempt us are always offering us some satisfaction; the heart already satisfied in Christ is not easily bought.

He draws a particular encouragement from Christ’s words to the church at Philadelphia. Those who keep the word of His patience will be kept by Him in the hour of temptation. Faithfulness in ordinary days is the best preparation for extraordinary ones.

Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. REVELATION 3:10

An honest word

Owen’s treatment of temptation is searching, and some readers will find it heavy going. He has a tendency to multiply signs and warnings until the reader feels that nearly everything is dangerous. That is partly the style of his age, and partly the man. But his basic insight is one that every Christian needs and few are taught: the battle is usually lost before the sin is committed, at the point where we let the temptation in and began to entertain it. The fight against sin, therefore, is largely a fight at the door. And the strongest guard at that door is not fear, but love.

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. JAMES 1:12

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. Think of a recent time you gave way to sin. Can you identify the moment, perhaps long before, when you began to enter into the temptation?

2. Ask whether you are in one of Owen’s dangerous seasons now: prosperity, spiritual deadness, unusual privilege, or self-confidence. Take appropriate care.

3. Pray the petition Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, slowly and deliberately each day this week.

4. Notice if you have begun to reason with a particular sin, looking for exceptions. Stop the conversation.

A PRAYER

Lord Jesus, You watched and prayed in the garden while Your disciples slept. Forgive me for my sleepiness when temptation is near.

Lead me not into temptation, and deliver me from evil. Keep me out of the paths where I would be exposed, and hold me fast when I cannot avoid them.

Show me the doors by which temptation enters my heart, and give me grace to shut them early.

Above all, fill my heart with Your love, so that I am too satisfied in You to be bought by anything else. Amen.