Why does it seem like everything in life is better than what we have?
• Webster’s Dictionary tells us that temptation is “the act of enticement to do wrong by the promise of pleasure or gain.”
• Isn’t that just like the Devil, getting us to do something wrong by promising us something good?
• To make the grass look greener on the other side of the fence
• There isn’t a day that goes by in any of our lives where we aren’t tempted in some way. Temptation comes packaged in a variety of ways.
• We are tempted to lie, cheat, gossip, over eat, to hold grudges, and to steal.
A 4-year old girl was caught by her Mom standing on a stool in the kitchen eating cookies. She wasn’t suppose to have cookies until after dinner. When caught she said “It’s not my fault, honest! I climbed up on that stool because I just wanted to smell them, and my tooth got caught!”
Today we’re going look at James 1:12-18
• We are going to talk about overcoming struggles,
• Not the struggles that we face from without,
• But the struggles that we face from within
• Today we are going to look at what it takes to win the battle over temptation.
Jas 1:12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. Jas 1:13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;
Jas 1:14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Jas 1:15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Jas 1:16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers.
Jas 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Jas 1:18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
The first thing that we have to understand in winning the battle against Temptation is that it’s Inevitable.
• You can count on it! You can depend on it! It’s going to happen.
• Look at what James said in the first line of verse 13
• When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.”
James didn’t say “if” he said “when”
• It would be wonderful if we could live life without having to deal with temptation,
• But we can’t.
• Just as hardships are an reality of life, so is temptation.
• If you think you’ve found some wonderful, peaceful place where you cantl be tempted
• My advice is don’t go there, because if you do you’re going to spoil it!
• And the reason is when you get there you’ll still have your mind and your thoughts
• And these are the vehicles of temptation.
• There isn’t a place on earth where there isn’t temptation.
• As long as we live in our earthly bodies we will face temptation
It doesn’t matter if you are the monk that lives in the monastery in the Swiss Alps,
• the businessman in Atlanta,
• the housewife in New York City, we all face temptation.
• And sometimes when God allows us to suffer, we have a tendency to use our trials as an excuse for sinning.
• Hard times can often lead to temptation.
• When we are suffering the devil is quick to come to our aid
• and offer us one of his solutions.
• He whispers in our ear that we need some pleasure in our life that will numb the pain.
• The Devil will tell us that we should be angry with God.
• He knows all the tricks and he’ll use his best ones on us when we are at our weakest.
The 2nd fact about temptation is that it doesn’t come from God.
• Look at the rest of verse 13– , God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;
• When you do something wrong do you admit it, or do you blame someone else?
• When your children are fighting and you ask them who started it
• the answer that you always get is not me.
• If something in the house gets broke
• Or when something doesn’t get done it’s always not me.
How often have you heard?
• I was minding my own business.
• I wasn’t going to say a word,
• But they just went on and on and finally I just lost it.
• It’s their fault. They made me lose it!
There is an epidemic in our society today of people
• Failing to take responsibility for their own actions,
• Everyone blames everyone else.
• From the President, Congress, all the way down to the people we deal with everyday.
• And it’s been this way since Adam and Eve.
In Genesis we are told that
• As soon as Adam and Eve heard the sound of God walking in the garden,
• They ran off and hid.
• (Because they all ready knew they messed up)
• And the Lord called out to Adam, “where are you?”
• Adam answered and said “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”
• God said, “Who told you that you were naked?
• Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
• Adam answered and said “the woman that YOU put here with me –
• SHE gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.”
Adam blamed God! It was God’s fault because He had given him Eve.
• When this didn’t work he blamed Eve because she had given him the fruit from the tree.
• But he didn’t have to eat it.
• So whose fault was it?
• It was Adam’s fault. He yielded to temptation.
God allows temptation, but He never directs it.
• He has given us a free will to make our own choices in life.
• God cannot fellowship with sin.
• He cannot tolerate it, nor does He direct us into it.
• When we sin, we sin by our own choice.
The 3rd fact “Temptation is that it’s a personal matter.”
• In the Garden of Eden – after God questioned Adam,
• He turned to Eve and asked her, “What have you done?”
• And Eve said, “the serpent deceived me and I ate it.”
Who was Eve trying to blame? Certainly not herself!
• She was the first person to truly coin the phrase “the devil made me do it!”
• The devil tempted her. But he didn’t force her to eat of that fruit.
• And ever since that day, sin has been a part of this world.
But where does temptation really come from?
• James answers that question in verses 14 and 15.
Jas 1:14 Temptation comes from the lure of our own evil desires. Jas 1:15 These evil desires lead to evil actions, and evil actions lead to death.
• It was Adam and Eve that brought sin and death into this world.
• But it was God’s gift of grace that gave us the opportunity to overcome sin and death.
• When we yield to temptation, it’s our fault
• And we can’t place the blame on anyone other than ourselves.
• Nothing outside of ourselves is strong enough to cause us to sin, not even Satan.
The Devil didn’t make us do it, we made ourselves do it.
The final fact about Temptation is that sin always follows the same pattern.
• Most of us here this morning have done some fishing at one time or another.
• The secret to being a good fisherman is using the right kind of bait to get the attention of the fish.
• Now depending on what type of fish we want to catch,
• We may choose night crawlers, minnows, corn, shrimp, or some other bait.
• We bait our hook and cast our line into the water.
• Now when trhe fish sees the bait
• He thinks “WOW! That sure looks great! I’d like to have me some of that.
Now at this point the fish has to make a decision.
• He can stay in his hiding place or he can go after the bait.
• If he gives into temptation, and goes after the bait, he gets caught.
• And we all know where he ends up later.
• He ends up cooked
• That’s exactly the way that temptation works with us.
• The bait is dropped It looks good
• And we have to make a choice.
• Our choice is to bite or not to bite.
The best fisherman in the world is Satan.
• He knows where we are the weakest.
• He knows what temptations we are most likely to fall for.
• He knows the best bait to use on each of us.
So how do we handle the temptation in our lives?”
• We tend to play around with temptation;
• We hanging out near its edge,
David didn’t walk away from temptation, he walked towards it.
• He knew exactly what he was going to see when he went up on that rooftop.
• David played around with the thing that made him weak.
• A person is a fool when they know what weakens them but they feed on it anyway.
Just as all sickness is not cured by the same medication,
• Not all temptation is handled by the same resistance.
• If you are tempted to gossip, God has an answer for it, don’t do it!
• A bridle isn’t an answer for gossip, a muzzle is.
• When you face the sin of gossip – hold your tongue!
• When you face sexual sin – run!
• When you face the sin of laziness – work!
• When you are filled with the sin of bitterness – forgive!
Is sin enjoyable? You bet it is.
• So much so that people will risk their reputations, their careers, even their families just to get a taste
• If the bait on the end of that hook didn’t look like something good to eat then the fish would never bite the hook.
Sin is fun and it feels good.
• But the pleasure only lasts a short time.
You sow, and then you reap what you have sown.
• Committing adultery or having pre-marital sex may seem like fun at the time.
• But when the marriage is ruined, you only see the kids just on weekends.
• The pain outweighs the pleasure.
Running around with your friends drinking or doing drugs
• May sound like a good time.
• But when you see the flashing lights
• Or your car is wrapped around a tree, the pleasure isn’t worth it.
Do you think David enjoyed himself that night with Bathsheba?
• Sure he did.
• But do you think it was worth it when, his child died
• And the guilt ate away at him,.
When sin looks appealing to us
• When it’s pleasure is dangling on a hook right in front of us,
• We have to remind ourselves that the pleasure is only temporary.
• And it’s this fact that we have to remember to control our desire.
• Have you ever seen someone slowly die from a disease?
• It’s not pretty – but that’s what sin does to us spiritually.
We have all been there more than once –
• Where God is on one side and sin on the other side.
• And we are standing in the middle.
• And we begin to yield to temptation and we forget about God.
The scales are tipped and Satan wins.
• We need to remember that the pleasure of sin is temporary
• And the pain of sin is deadly.
So Today as we get ready to close I would like to leave you with this
1Co 10:12 If you think you are standing strong, be careful, for you, too, may fall into the same sin.
1Co 10:13 But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it.
