How To Understand & Defeat Temptation Series

- Illustration: Philip Yancey, in "Reaching for the Invisible God" describes the way God get’s blamed for things in this way. "When Princess Diana died in an automobile accident, a minister was interviewed and was asked the question “How can God allow such a terrible tragedy?” And I loved his response. He said, “Could it have had something to do with a drunk driver going ninety miles an hour in a narrow tunnel? Just How, exactly, was God involved.” Years ago, boxer, Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, killed a Korean opponent with a hard right hand to the head. At the press conference after the Korean’s death, Mancini said, “sometimes I wonder why God does the things he does.” In a letter to Dr. Dobson, a young woman asked this anguished question, “Four years ago, I was dating a man and became pregnant. I was devastated. I asked God, “Why have you allowed this to happen to me?” Susan Smith, the south Carolina mother a couple years ago who pushed her two sons into a lake to drown and then blamed a fictional car-jacker for the deed, wrote in her confession: “I dropped to the lowest point when I allowed my children to go down that ramp into the water without me. I took off running and screaming, ‘Oh God! Oh God, no! What have I done? Why did you let this happen?” Now the question remains, exactly what role did God play in the drunk driving that lead to Princess Diana's death, a boxer beating his opponent to death, a teenage couple giving into temptation in the back seat of a car, or a mother drowning her children?

#4 Provenance

- So what leads us to blame God for our temptations? In part, because we refuse to acknowledge the provenance, or source, of temptation.

- Read James 1:14. Recall the creative excuses people give for their own sin we discussed earlier. Scripture speaks of three enemies of humanity: the world, the flesh, the devil. Notice that James only mentions what? US!!! He doesn't include any "the devil made me do it" discussion. Why? Bengel = "Even the suggestions of the devil do not occasion danger, before they are made 'our own'". James wants us to acknowledge the TRUE provenance, or source, of temptation. Me, Buffy Cook. As Brother Charles is found of saying, "we have met the enemy and he is us"! Discuss Charger locker room - "Take FULL responsibility".

- Our own desires are the problem. "Lust, desire" Greek = "epithumia" "epi" (focused on) + "thumos" (passionate desire) Passion built on strong feelings. It does not always have a negative meaning (Jesus in Luke 22:15 = I have desired to eat this Passover with you, Paul in Phil. 1:23 = Desire to depart and be with Christ). Here, as most often in the NT, it refers to fleshly, selfish, illicit desire.

- Look at the vivid imagery that James uses here to describe the effect our desires have on us as they lure and entice us give into temptation and sin. Both are hunting/fishing metaphors:

Lured = Greek "exelko"; Lit. "to drag forth" as game is lured from it's hiding place.