“Escaping from Temptation”
James 1:13-18
About ten years ago I worked for the Sheriff’s office in the area of child Protection. I worked there and here at the same time. In that job we dealt with 18 different forms of abuse. I saw children who were hurting every single day. Sometimes the abuse is physical, sexual or emotional, regardless of which category the abuse fits in the Sheriff’s office came to this conclusion….in almost 90% of the cases one or both of the parents has an addiction. An addiction to alcohol or an addiction to pain medication. Pasco County is not only the leader in Florida in this area but is now one of the leaders in the entire nation. It is absolutely everywhere. Let me give you a few examples.
• I spoke to a member of the medical staff at Trinity hospital who works in the maternity area and they told me that 90% of babies born at their hospital are born addicted to drugs. These babies start life with a struggle. They experience tremors; they shake and they have to be given meds and remain at the hospital until their withdrawals are over.
• 80% of prescriptions that are filled for oxycodone in the nation are filled in Florida.
• One of our local funeral homes as reported that they see an average of 32 deaths each month related to prescription drug use. Basically one a day.
There are at least two people who are not surprised at all about this level of addiction in our county. (1) God is not surprised. He’s not pleased, but He’s certainly not surprised. He knows the past, present and future and so He has seen this coming for a long time. (2) Satan is not surprised. And he is pleased. This has been his plan from the beginning.
All of us need to understand how temptation and how it works, v. 13 James says let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God. God does not tempt us. James didn’t say if you are faced with temptation…he said when you are faced with it. So we should not be surprised when we are. In fact, expect it.
Two things we must understand here. (1) Temptation is universal. If you ever meet someone who is never tempted by anything there is only one conclusion you can draw about that person. They’re dead. From the moment we enter this world we are in a battle with temptation.
(2) Temptation is personal. Satan knows how to craft a temptation to appeal to our desires … that looks good at first…so we say I’ll just do this and many times it ends up as an addiction.
I know many people who face addictions to prescription drugs…to alcohol. I know many good people who have an addiction to pornography. God created sexual relations for us to enjoy but within marriage. Satan has turned it into an addiction marriages are torn apart as a result.
Some will develop an addiction to material things. Spending money we don’t have on things we don’t need to impress people who don’t care. And before we know it we have a mountain of debt and no way out in sight.
Look at Vv.13-15. So we need to get an understanding of where temptation comes from. Theologians have debated this subject. Some have argued that God is the source of our temptation. From the beginning of time man has attempted to shift the blame for his sin. In the garden Adam shifted the blame…he said Lord “it was that woman you gave me.” Then Eve shifted the blame and said Lord “it was that serpent you sent into the garden.” And several thousand years later our excuses are the same. We say I am the way I am because God made me this way. I can’t help it. James tells us here that when we are tempted…get this…. no one should blame God. It is very clear… God does not tempt anyone. God is not to blame.
On the other hand, Satan does tempt us…. daily. I also believe that while Satan definitely has a hand in our temptation, in order for Satan’s temptations to be effective there must be something there for him to work with. Ultimately we are at fault. James makes an important point.
Temptation is NOT an event, it is a process.
We may say that we were tempted at a certain time to do a certain thing …. That does happen but many times it happens over a period of time and that there are things that happen that lead up to it. James gives us the steps in this passage.
(1) First it begins with desire. V. 14. The desire to sin is already in us. We were born with a sinful nature that is bent in the direction of sin. It begins with desire …….. something that we like.
(2) Desire then leads to deception. James says that because of our desire we are dragged away and enticed. That word enticed is a fishing term that means “to lure by some kind of bait.” And the purpose of bait is deception. If you bait your hook, let’s say with a minnow we have two purposes in mind. The first is to lure the fish. Fish are attracted to minnows ….crickets. I’m not. But fish are. The bait has to be attractive. A 2nd purpose of the bait is to hide the hook. We are enticed by sin for this simple reason…not only is it attractive but also we are unable to see what the hook can do to us.
(3) Deception then leads to disobedience. Desire. Deception. Disobedience. James tells us, “After sin or desire has conceived it gives birth to sin.” These two elements, the bait and the desire join together and they both gives birth to sin. And then it just gets worse. (4) Disobedience leads to spiritual Death. James says “and sin when it is fully formed, brings forth death.” James is not referring to physical death……..…if he was we would all be dead. What he is saying is that we die inside ….spiritually. When we sin, when we become addicted and we don’t address it---a part of us begins to die.
Sin will take the joy right out of your life. In psalm 51 after David sinned with Bathsheba he then prayed “Lord, restore unto me the joy of my salvation.” If you want to handle temptation I would suggest that you do something. Take a good long look at what you’re doing…analyze it, look at what is causing you to do it…look at the possible consequences. Look at where you could end up. And this is the conclusion I think you will come to…. “It’s just not worth it.” It could cost you your marriage, your family, your bank account, your job. And you need to remember that every time Satan confronts you.
1st Corinthians 10:13. “And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
There are at least 4 times when Satan really comes after us. It’s when we are already weak. 4 examples.
• When we are HUNGRY.
• When we are ANGRY.
• When we are LONELY.
• When we are TIRED. Time to HALT. Stop slow down.
So here are at least 4 things that can help us.
(1) Stay in the word. Read the Bible. Memorize verses.
(2) Pray. When Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan, He had been fasting and praying for
40 days. He said no to every temptation.
(3) Avoid compromising situations. Try not to put yourself in the path of temptation.
(4) Make yourself accountable to someone. Are you looking at things you shouldn’t see? Are you hanging out at places where you shouldn’t be?
Jesus said that anyone who looks at a woman with lust in their heart, they have already committed adultery. Was Jesus saying they are the same thing? I don’t think so. It seems to me that He is telling us that if we think about it too long we are on a dangerous path that can result in following through. You see, sin is like circles in the water…. when a stone is thrown into it; one produces another. When anger was in Cain’s heart, murder was not far off. He then killed Abel. David saw Bathseba and then he committed adultery.
So who is to blame? Go home and look in the mirror. Teddy Roosevelt said, if I could kick the person in the pants who has caused me the most trouble for me I wouldn’t be able to sit down for a month. Too many times we sin and then we blame someone else. But ….two things to take note of here….. (1) ultimately, all sin is against God and (2) we are responsible for it.
The first step to forgiveness is to realize sin is our fault. The good news God always forgives. Give it to him, ask for forgiveness and move on.
