4 The Devil Made Me Do It
(The Real Source of Temptation)
By Pastor Jim May
Book of James
James 1:13-17
I am on a diet again. But like most people, diets are only a temporary answer. On my diet I am supposed to not have chocolate candy. In fact, I’ve heard that most chocolate isn’t good for the heart anyway. But one person had this to say they were told that they had to give up chocolate as a part of their diet.
1) A good piece of chocolate has about 200 calories. As I enjoy 2 servings per night, and a few more on weekends. I consume 3,500 calories of chocolate in a week, which equals one pound of weight per week. Therefore, in the last 3 1/2 years, I have had chocolate caloric intake of about 180 pounds, and I only weigh 155 pounds, so without chocolate, I would have wasted away to nothing about 3 months ago! I owe my life to chocolate.
2) Then there is the story of an enthusiastic but somewhat unscrupulous salesman who was waiting to see the purchasing agent of an engineering firm. The salesman was there to submit his company’s bid, or price quote, for a particular job. He couldn’t help but notice, however, that a competitor’s bid was on the purchasing agent’s desk. Unfortunately, the actual figure was covered by a can of juice. The temptation to see the amount quoted became too much, so the salesman lifted the can. His heart sank as he watched thousands of BB’s pour from the bottomless can and scatter across the floor.
3) Many of you will remember Iron Eyes Cody. He is the native American actor who did a TV spot for the Keep America Beautiful campaign in the early 70’s.. He was an Indian drifting alone in a canoe. As he saw how our waters are being polluted, a single tear rolled down his cheek, telling the whole story. This public service commercial is so powerful that it is still aired to this day.
In 1988 Cody told an old Indian legend in Guideposts magazine and I want to relate that legend to you. Many years ago, Indian youths would go away in solitude to prepare for manhood. One such youth hiked into a beautiful valley, green with trees, bright with flowers. There he fasted. But on the third day, as he looked up at the surrounding mountains, he noticed one tall rugged peak, capped with dazzling snow. I will test myself against that mountain, he thought. He put on his buffalo-hide shirt, threw his blanket over his shoulders and set off to climb the peak. When he reached the top he stood on the rim of the world. He could see forever, and his heart swelled with pride. Then he heard a rustle at his feet, and looking down, he saw a snake. Before he could move, the snake spoke.
"I am about to die," said the snake. "It is too cold for me up here and I am freezing. There is no food and I am starving. Put me under your shirt and take me down to the valley."
"No," said the youth. "I am forewarned. I know your kind. You are a rattlesnake. If I pick you up, you will bite, and your bite will kill me."
"Not so," said the snake. "I will treat you differently. If you do this for me, you will be special. I will not harm you."
The youth resisted awhile, but this was a very persuasive snake with beautiful markings. At last the youth tucked it under his shirt and carried it down to the valley. There he laid it gently on the grass. Suddenly, for no reason at all, the snake coiled, rattled, and struck, sinking his poisonous fangs into the boy’s leg.
"But you promised you wouldn’t bite me," cried the youth.
As the snake slithered away he turned and said, "You knew what I was when you picked me up."
4) I recently read a story about a little boy named Bobby who desperately wanted a new bicycle. His plan was to save his nickels, dimes and quarters until he finally had enough to buy a new 10-speed. Each night he asked God to help him save his money. Kneeling beside his bed, he prayed, “Dear Lord, please help me save my money for a new bike, and please, Lord, don’t let the ice cream man come down the street again tomorrow.”
5) Jim Grant in Reader’s Digest told about someone else who faced temptation. An overweight businessman decided it was time to shed some excess pounds. He took his new diet seriously, even changing his driving route to avoid his favorite bakery. One morning, however, he showed up at work with a gigantic coffee cake. Everyone in the office fussed at him, but his smile remained nonetheless. “This is a special coffee cake,” he explained. “I accidentally drove by the bakery this morning and there in the window was a host of goodies. I felt it was no accident, so I prayed, ’Lord, if you want me to have one of those delicious coffee cakes, let there be a parking spot open right in front.’ And sure enough, the eighth time around the block, there it was!”
All of us know what it is to enter the wilderness of temptation. Temptation is part and parcel of the human condition.
Now there’s one common thread that runs through each one of these stories of temptation that I have told you. Satan didn’t show up to try to entice none of these to do what they did. God didn’t stop them, force them to partake of what they did. No, they wanted what they saw and were willing to do whatever they had to in order to have what they wanted. Their own lust, desire, hunger, thirst or whatever excuse we want to give, is what made them fall into temptation and ultimately to give in.
James 1:13, "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:"
James began his epistle by saying in James 1:2, "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;" In these temptations we are to be joyful and happy, but now we are to say that those temptations were not sent by God, so how can we be joyful in them like James says?
The answer is that these are two types of temptations that James is talking about. One is the temptation that presents the opportunities to do good things, to try and test our faith, and to allow God’s grace to work in us as we obey the will of God. The other is the temptation to disobey God’s law and fall into sin.
The first type of temptations he mentions, if they are embraced and endured, will bring us into a state of joy and happiness in God. But these temptations that he speaks of now are to be guarded against.
Does God allow, or even bring the first type of “temptations” to us? Does the Holy Spirit lead us in paths that will bring us to those things in life that will build us up in the faith, allow the grace of God to grow in us, and ultimately make us have joy in the Lord? I’d have to say that God wants us to be all of that, so I have no doubt that He brings those “temptations” to us.
So what is James saying when he says in verse 13, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God’?
Our God is a holy God. He does not delight in sin, but hates it passionately. God cannot commit sin, look upon sin or allow sin to go unpunished. How could our Holy God then push temptations at his people that he knows can easily cause them to sin? The answer is that he doesn’t do so at all.
God knows that we are apt to sin. He knows our weaknesses. So why would he send temptations our way that he already knows we will yield to? You don’t grow in grace by falling in temptation to sin. You don’t grow in the knowledge of God through that kind of temptation. In fact, God wants us to stay away from anything, anybody and anyplace that will bring the temptation to sin upon us.
God didn’t send the serpent to Adam and Eve in the Garden. Satan took on the form of the serpent and presented the fruit, made it look good, and then trapped them into believing a lie and then fulfilling the desires of their own heart – and they knew better all the time for God had already warned them.
God never wanted that temptation to come. He didn’t send it. It came because of the heart of man and the lies of the devil. God knew it would happen though, and He had already prepared a plan of redemption. I do not believe that the Father in Heaven would have given His only Son on the Cross to die if there had been another way. The only other way was to never create man in the first place, but that wasn’t an option since God wanted someone who would serve him and love him of their own free will.
Some say that God planned all of it, the creation, the fall, the sin, death, hell, the cross, resurrection and everything in the Bible and predetermined who would be saved and who would not. That’s totally wrong. God knew what was going to happen so he planned for man’s way of redemption, but he had to give man the choice to sin or not. If man had no choice whether he would serve God willingly or not, then why create man in the first place? God’s design was to create a race of being, created in His own image, who could, and would, choose to love Him and worship Him. There’s no other reason for our existence other than that.
Let’s never get into the frame of mind that God caused it all. That’s the same thing that Adam did when God found him hiding in the garden. It’s all part of the blame game.
Adam, when he fell, tried to excuse himself and lay the blame upon the woman; then ultimately upon God, who gave her to him. Adam’s excuse was that if it had not been for the woman, he should not have ate of the forbidden fruit, nor should he have had any temptation to it. Had God not created Eve to be with him, there would be no sin and therefore it was God’s fault. In this same manner we try to excuse sin today. When we go through affliction, we murmur against God, distrust his providence, or forsake his ways. We say that if he had not laid his hand upon us, or allowed the temptations to come to us, then we wouldn’t be in sin.
We must put the fault where it truly belongs. The fault is in us. We wanted it. We saw it. We had to have it. So we took it just like Adam did. You can’t blame the devil because he can’t force you to sin, and you can’t blame God because he didn’t create you to sin. And you can’t blame anyone else because you made the choice to listen or not. The blame is on us and our own dirty, black, sinful heart.
God may be tempted to bring judgment by our sinful deeds just like He did with Israel so many times in the Bible, but He cannot be tempted to sin. It is against his very nature and impossible. God cannot do “evil things”. What man perceives to be evil deeds of God are nothing more than judgments brought upon ourselves because of our own evil deeds that God’s justice and holiness cannot allow to go without a reckoning day.
God doesn’t tempt man to sin, but he does them to obey Him. He tempted Abraham, to try his faith, love, and obedience to him; he tempted the Israelites in the wilderness, to try them and humble them, and prove what was in their hearts; and he tempted Job, and tried his faith and patience; and so he tempts and tries all of us, by afflictions, troubles, commandments, instructions and such, but he never tempts or tries to get us to sin. Temptations to sin come from somewhere other than God, and that somewhere is within our own hearts.
James 1:14, "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed."
Think of temptation this way: When you go fishing you bait a hook, tie on a line and drop it into the water. You can’t make the fish bite, all you can do is present the bait and try to entice him. If the fish isn’t hungry, or doesn’t want the bait, all you will do is drown a cricket or a worm and you won’t catch a fish. But if that fish likes what he sees, even if what he sees isn’t even real but a man-made spinner bait or plastic worm, he will go after it and swallow it, sometimes hook, line and sinker. He is drawn by his own lust. All you did was put it in front of him and watch him do the rest.
But once the fish has swallowed the bait and been hooked, then he no longer has a choice. The line, the reel, the rod and the hand of the fisherman are his masters now. Unless he can somehow break that line or spit the hook, he’s destined for the frying pan. A fish can get out of that dilemma sometimes, but when man is hooked by sin, there is no breaking the line. Sin’s bond and hook are too powerful for man to break alone. He is eternally doomed for the fire just like the fish.
God puts us in the earth through creation, much like he did those fish. We are there to enjoy the earth, grow and multiply and do what he has made us to do. But when Satan, who knows our heart and our weaknesses, hangs the bait in front of us, all he can do is watch and wait for us to take it. Then, it’s up to us and our own will.
What happens after we sin? Why does the sinner sink so deep in sin? Paul gives us the answer in Romans 1:24-32, "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them."
Now lets look again at James and read James 1:15, "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."
Satan offers us a proposition of pleasure or of something that looks good and feels good if we do it, much like the temptation that many face of falling into adultery. Our corrupt nature, if we allow it reign in us, is pleased with the offer; and instead of resisting and rejecting the proposition, we admit that it’s good, receive it into our heart, cherish it in our mind and then we begin to play around with the idea. As we are doing all of that, it is the same as the conception of the seed. Then it begins to grow inside of us until we can no longer ignore the fact that its there. If we do not reject the seed, have a miscarriage, if you will, of that seed in us, then the growth of that which is conceived must and will eventually be born.
David described this process in Psalms 7:14, "Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood."
Soon the birth of that which we have conceived comes to fullness of time and breaks forth as sin that we commit and ultimately in our separation from God and eternal death.
The first sin of man brought death into the world. It brought a spiritual death, or moral death upon man, subjected him to physical death, and also made him a debtor to an eternal God. Every sin carries with it the guilt of breaking God’s Law. We must then face the eternal, righteous Judge who must, because of his holiness and perfect sense of justice, pronounce the verdict of the court, and the verdict is always death.
James 1:16, "Do not err, my beloved brethren."
Don’t ever make the mistake of thinking that God is the author of sin. Don’t ever lay the blame him because you are tempted to sin. To do so is a very great error, and a fundamental misunderstanding of who and what our God is. It strikes at the nature and being of God, and at the perfection of his holiness: it is like denying that he is a perfect, holy, righteous God.
No, God doesn’t send things that could cause us to lose our soul. He never sends things, or places things in our path that might cause us to backslide. He isn’t some ogre, sitting up there in Heaven on his throne, waiting for us to fall into the trap of sin and then laughing every time we fall for it. Our God is a loving and faithful God who wants the best for his children. Why would He want you to fail?
James 1:17, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."
Everything that God sends into your life, whether it’s things of this natural world that provide for your need, or the path that is laid before you, that will lead you to Heaven, or the wonderful grace of God that allows you to live in peace and joy, is all good and perfect.
None of the things that God sends into your life are bad, they are all perfect and good in every way, and meant only to strengthen you and build your faith and create a better relationship with Him.
The good and perfect gifts include many things. Among them are righteousness through the Blood of Jesus, remission of sins through the Blood, adoption through being Born Again, regeneration through the new birth and eternal life that you are already living and perhaps don’t even realize it yet.
All of those good and perfect things come from He that is True Light. Not only does he give us the sun, moon and stars for light, but he enlightens our heart and mind as well.
The sun that gives light for our galaxy has its paths, eclipses, and turnings, and casts its shadow; it rises and sets, appears and disappears every day; and it comes out of one tropic, and enters into another at certain seasons of the year.
But with God, who is Light itself there is no shadow; no darkness at all. His pure light penetrates all things and nothing is hidden from His sight. There is no change, nor anything like it. He is unchangeable in his nature, perfections, purposes, promises, and gifts. Being holy, He cannot turn to that which is evil; nor can he be the cause of darkness.
Since He is that kind of God, and since every good and perfect gift comes from him, evil cannot proceed from him, nor can he tempt any to it. As we close this message let’s remember this. The next time any kind of temptation to sin comes your way, don’t look outward, but look inward. That temptation is only a temptation because you want to do it in the first place. The temptations come from within, not without. Temptations only become sin when we decide to yield to them. The choice is always ours.
