One man who was popular on radio was Rush Limbaugh. He died February 17, 2021.
Whether you agreed with his opinions or not…millions listened to him daily because as he spoke his views on politics his listeners felt he was speaking on their views on political issues.
It takes a special person to be able to speak for others.
But in this sermon we want to turn our attention to the very special person that wrote the book of James.
James had the ability to make his readers feel he was dealing with the issues where WE ALL LIVE.
For example we all have to deal with temptation.
Look how he speaks to his readers.
James 1:13-15, “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. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death”.
James uses the word TEMPTATION in two ways.
First he uses the word TEMPTATION…
(1) SATAN TEMPS US TO SIN.
Satan is very good at it!!! He has had thousands of years of experience knowing how to tempt us Christians to sin.
Illus: For example, suppose the doctor tells a man, for health reasons, he must quit smoking.
But that person can see a person smoking a cigarette and that little cigarette becomes the most important thing in his/her life.
It becomes like a magnet drawing him/her to it.
This is one way James uses the word TEMPTATION…SATAN TEMPTS US TO SIN.
The devil is the biggest hooker in the world walking the streets everyday tempting people to sin.
He knows how to sell sin.
Illus: A man went to a store to get some salt. The store clerk said, “How much salt do you want? He carried him to the basement of the store. It was full of salt.
• The customer said to the store clerk…”YOU MUST KNOW HOW TO SELL SALT?”
• The store clerk said, “No! But that man who sold me all this salt knows how to sells salt!!!”
The devil knows how to sell sin!!!
The second way the word TEMPTATION IS USED…
(2) GOD TRYS US
Some temptations are tests that come from the Lord. These temptations are not inducements to do evil.
• The temptation to sin is sent to us by Satan to DRAG US DOWN!
• The temptation to try us by the Lord Jesus is to BUILD US UP!
Did you know the temptations God sends to us are for our benefit?
How is the temptation for our benefit?
God allows temptation to come into our lives, NOT FOR GOD’S PURPOSE. The Lord is Omniscient. He knows before we are tempted how we are going to react to the temptation.
So the temptation is not for His benefit, it is for our benefit.
If temptation of sin is in the heart when it is tested it will reveal itself.
God’s temptation is to strengthen us, not to weaken us.
Christians and sinners sin, but the difference between a Christian and a sinner sinning is that a Christians falls into sin.
Illus: You see if I go outside we have a pond in front of this beautiful church.
As I go out there it is possible that I might fall into that pond if I am not careful
Now here is the difference between a Christian and a sinner.
Illus: A Christian may FALL INTO SIN, repent and get out, BUT A SINNER “SWIMS” IN SIN!!! He enjoys sin!
If you enjoy swimming in sin, you have a problem and that is you have never been born again.
Three things I want us to notice this morning. I WANT TO SHOW YOU… WHEN IT COMES TO TEMPTATION THERE IS…
I. A POSIBILITY
Look at verse 13. “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God…”
Look at the word “When”.
The Word of God doesn’t say if he is tempted. It says, “…when he is tempted…”
Many people think that if you are a Christian, and especially if you’re a good Christian, you’re not going to have any temptations. That is not scriptural!!
Illus: Listen, before we were saved we had some horrible sinful thoughts. After we are saved the devil will tempt us with those same horrible thoughts of sin.
And then the devil will say, “You are not saved, if you were saved you would not have these SINFUL THOUGHTS”.
Illus: Someone said, we can not stop a bird from flying over our head but we can stop him from building a nest there.
We can not stop the horrible thoughts of sin that the devil puts in our minds but we do not have to allow him to build a nest with these sinful sins.
Illus: Jesus was the holy Son of God and he had temptations and so will you.
• The minute you become a friend of God you become an enemy of Satan.
• And, when God opens the windows of Heaven to bless us, the devil opens the doors of Hell to blast us.
That’s something we can depend on!!!
Illus: There was one man who worked for his boss. This man that worked for this boss man was a born again Christian.
He was always telling his boss that the devil was dogging his footsteps and that he was having difficulty with temptation.
One day they were talking about it while they were out duck hunting and the boss said to him
• “Sam, you claim to be a Christian and yet you’re always talking about wrestling with temptation, the devil always being after you.”
• He said, “I’m not even a Christian; I make no pretense of being a Christian. The devil never bothers me, how do you explain that?”
• He said, “Well, Boss, suppose we shoot two ducks. One of them falls dead and the other is still flopping in the water. Which one are we going to go after first?”
• “Well,” he said, “the one that’s still flopping.”
• He said, “That’s right boss. The devil knows you are a dead duck.”
LET ME SHARE WITH YOU, AS CHRISTIANS, SOME GOOD NEWS ABOUT TEMPTATION.
WHAT IS THE GOOD NEWS?
The good news is that with every temptation God allows in our life, He gives strength to overcome the temptation.
Look at 1 Corinthians 10:13, “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.”
As we live the Christian life it is not a question of the possibility of temptation – it is just a matter of WHEN!!!
Look at James 1:13-15 again, “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:”
When it comes to TEMPTATION there is A POSSIBILITY.
Also, when it comes to temptation there is…
II. AN IMPOSSIBILITY
In verse 13 look at the word EVIL.
“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:”
God does not tempt us with evil, because God cannot be tempted with evil.
LISTEN TO ME CAREFULLY…
• The devil could not tempt the Lord to sin because the devil has nothing that the Lord wants from Him.
• And the devil cannot tempt you unless you have some sinful desire within you.
Let no man say he is tempted by God.
BUT EVERY MAN LOVES TO PLAY THE BLAME GAME!!!
Do you remember in the Garden of Eden? When Adam sinned and God came walking in the midst of the Garden—Do you remember Adam’s little neat alibi after he ate the forbidden fruit?
Adam was playing the blame game that we often play.
Notice, he actually:
(1) Blamed God
In other words God if you had not given her to me I would not have sinned.
(2) Blamed Eve
Adam said, “The woman thou gavest me. She gave me to eat and I did sin” (Genesis 3:12).
Adam was ACTUALLY saying, “I AM not guilty YOU AND EVE ARE TO BLAME… SHAME ON YOU!!! You did it to me, you placed me in this situation.”
Illus: Someone said that:
• God blamed Adam.
• Adam blamed Eve.
• Eve blamed the serpent
• And the serpent didn’t have a leg to stand on.
Well, let me tell you something; Adam was the one who didn’t have a leg to stand on. Adam wanted to blame everyone but himself.
Illus: This game blame is a very popular game that everyone enjoys playing.
• If a man cuts his finger off while slicing salami at work, he blames the restaurant.
• If a man smokes three packs a day for 40 years and die of lung cancer, he blames the tobacco company.
• If your neighbor crashes into a tree while driving home drunk, he blames the bartender.
Illus: Someone said, “One day Adam was out hunting with his two boys and came up to the Garden of Eden, that he and Eve had been kicked out for eating the forbidden fruit.
• Adam was staring at the Garden and one of his boys said, “Daddy, what is wrong with you? Why are you crying?”
• Adam wiped a tear and said, “Boys, that is the Garden of Eden right there…that’s where we used to live ‘til Momma ate us out of house and home!”
Now, James is going to pull the rug out from underneath Adam.
There are two things that are impossible.
Number one…It’s impossible for God to be tempted with evil.”
(1) Why? Because, God has it all.
There’s nothing God needs. There’s nothing God wants from satan.
Illus: Did you know it is impossible to buy a birthday gift for a rich man who already has everything he wants.
(Donald Trump) It is reported on television that former president Trump had his airplane painted and remodeled. The reporter said that if all the gold in his airplane was melted down it would cover a greyhound bus. HOW COULD YOU BUY A BIRTHDAY GIFT FOR HIM?
Illus: God is sufficient in Himself and God has no itch the devil can scratch, and God is completely whole.
(2) But, not only is God completely whole, God is completely holy.
He is the antithesis of sin. It is absolutely impossible that God could be tempted.
Someone says, “Well, now wait a minute, wasn’t Jesus tempted, and wasn’t Jesus God?”
Yes, Jesus was tempted, and Jesus was God, but Jesus was more than God.
Jesus was also man.
Jesus shared our humanity, and in his humanity Jesus was tempted, but in his deity, Jesus was without sin.
Let me show you something about sin. There’s something about sin that makes a person want to share it.
• Have you ever noticed how those who drink will try to get others to drink?
• Those who smoke try to get others to smoke.
• Those who commit immorality, they try to get others to do it.
That is why Satan tried to induce Eve to sin, because he was a sinner.
That is if God places you in a situation that is beyond your control you are able to blame God.
Now, we’re still doing this today.
We don’t say, “The woman thou gavest me.”
• The Homosexual says, “GOD MADE ME THIS WAY!” (No, at creation He made a male and a female for each other) IT WAS ADAM AND EVE NOT ADAM AND STEVE!!!
• The transgender says, “GOD MADE ME THIS WAY! (I am a woman but God placed me in a man’s body)” It is God’s fault!!!
• Here’s what we say today, “The ghetto I was raised in.”
• The glands that I inherited,”
Illus: We can blame everybody but as we point our finger at them there are three pointing back at us.
Illus: Every Sunday Joel Osteen preaches that mankind is basically good. He said 99.9% of mankind is good!!! Wonder how he knows that, God’s knows different.
• Romans 3:10, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.”
• Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
There’s one thing that God will never accept for sin and that is an alibi. Because there is NO EXCUSE FOR SIN…NONE!!!
“… God tempteth no man with evil, neither can he be tempted with evil” (James 1:13).
But that does not stop evil men:
• You ask a man, “Say, why do you drink?” He says, “Why do I drink? Man, I drink because my wife nags me all the time. It’s the only escape. Nag, nag, nag, nag, nag, that’s why I drink.”
• Say to her, “Why do you nag him all the time?” “Nag him, why wouldn’t I? He drink, drink, drink, drink, drink. That’s all he ever does, drink.”
Everybody can give you an excue for why they do the evil things they do!!!
Illus: Nat king Cole, used to sing that song “It’s me, it’s me, it’s me. O God, standing in the need of prayer.”
When it comes to temptation there is…
I. A POSSIBILITY
II. AN IMPOSSIBILITY
But also when it comes to temptation there is…
III. A RESPONSIBILITY
Look, if you will, in verse 14: “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren” (James 1:14–16).
I want you to notice that sin is an inside job. It’s not something that happens from without.
You can’t say, “The devil made me do it.” You’re going to have to say, “I did it all by myself!!!”
Now, let me give you an illustration.
James illustrates it by an immoral woman seducing a man, or by an immoral man seducing a woman.
Now, of course, if he or she is seduced, it’s a sign that both are immoral. REMEMBER, IF THEY DID NOT HAVE THE EVIL SEED IN THEM ALREADY THEY COULD NOT BE TEMPTED!!!
I want you to notice that is the figure of speech that he’s talking about.
Now, he’s not just merely talking about sexual sin. He’s not merely talking about the sin of adultery, and fornication and immorality. He is using that kind of a sin as an illustration of all kinds of sin.
There’s a certain seductiveness to sin.
Now, he says 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: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed”.
Now, this word “drawn away” is a word that is a fisherman’s word. It is a term that would describe a fisherman who catches a fish by using a special bait or a lure.
Let me illustrate…
Illus: And, here’s the fisherman, he knows that Mr. Bass is out there somewhere, and he’s trying to out think Mr. Bass,
So he says, “I just believe Mr. Bass is hungry for this particular fly.” And, he takes it off his hat and puts it on there. Or, Mr. Bass is hungry for this particular worm, or Mr. Bass would like this particular spinner.
Now if Mr. Bass does not like that kind of bait, it would not be a temptation to him. But satan knows you better than you know yourself.
Now, he’s trying to out think Mr. Bass. And, then that fisherman takes that rod, and that reel, and he throws it out there just right.
Well, Mr. Bass is up under that log, and he knows there’s a lily pad there, and it lands in the water, makes a little ripple, and then Mr. Fisherman waits for a moment and he twitches it once.
Reels it a little, and lets it sit there, then he twitches it again. And, ol’ Mr. Bass is watching it, and watching it and there’s something in Mr. Bass that says, “I want that.” And, so suddenly Mr. Bass can stand it no longer, and he gobbles it up and he finds out it’s got a hook in it and the fight is on.
Now, that’s the word that James is using. Every man is drawn away of his own lust.
Do you know how some of these prostitutes get a man? Just like a fisherman gets a fish. (Illustration from Dr. Adrian Rogers)
A man can be enticed by a HOOKER that draws him into sin.
But if he does not have the sinful desire he can say to satan…GET BEHIND ME IAM NOT INTERESTED!
This is why they call them hookers?
The devil is THE BIGGEST HOOKER EVER TO WALK THE STREET SEDUCING PEOPLE TO SIN
The devil knows what kind of bait to get you with.
Remember, James is only using an illustration. You see, he threw out three separate baits to Jesus.
(1) First of all, turn these stones to bread. He baited his hook with bread. Jesus said, “I’m not going to take that bait.”
(2) And, then he said, “Cast yourself down from the pinnacle of the temple” (Luke 4:9)
(3) And he baited the bread with pride, and Jesus wouldn’t go for that bait. And, then he took the bait of materialism and threw it out.
You see, the devil was fishing, fishing, fishing. But, Jesus refused to take the bait. He refused, but the devil is a fisherman.
Do you know the mistake that some preachers make?
They try to tell young people there’s no pleasure in sin. That’s ridiculous!!!
Of course there is pleasure in sin. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 11:25 “The pleasures of sin are but for season”
But he does not tell us what is to follow sin.
Illus: Remember King David when he saw that beautiful woman bathing herself and he had sexual relationship with her.
But later, she sent word to David when they had this sinful relationship now a baby is on the way.
Let me illustrate sin this way…
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger was visiting a hog farmer. He had a long barn and he had stalls for each hog. And every day he would feed the hogs slop and they would gobble it up! Now these hogs might have thought I have it made, everyday this farmer gives me all the slop to enjoy.
But what that hog does not know he is being FATTEN UP FOR THE SLAUGHTER!!!
Dr. Robert G. Lee used to say, “You can eat the devil’s corn if you want to, but he’ll choke you on the cob.” Amen.
The devil through temptation can make sin look so good.
Proverbs chapter 23:31, “Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright” (Proverbs 23:31).
Did you know there are few things on earth more beautiful than a glass of wine—ruby red, sparkling—the bubbly they call it, right? “It moveth itself aright.”
But look at Proverbs 23: 32 “At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder”
Illus: Have you noticed that when they advertise beer and liquor they always have a beautiful woman and a handsome man drinking.
They do not show that young couple when sin comes home to roost!!!
There are HOOKERS that walk the streets every day and night trying to HOOK men into sin. They know how to dress and how to talk!!!
However, the biggest HOOKER is the devil. 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”
Every day he walks the streets looking for somone who is not trusting the Lord. And when he finds them he starts tempting them.
Listen, I am preaching to some of you and you had better wake up to sin before it is too late.
Illus: Dr. Adrian Rogers tells us, “One day I got a telephone call from Mr. Brewer himself (Beer company) and he said, ‘Mr. Rogers, I need to see you.’
I said, “I’ll meet you in my office in five minutes.” And, I knew what he wanted to talk about, but I acted like I didn’t.
I said, “What do you want to talk about?”
“Well,” he said, “it’s that sign of yours out there.”
I said, “What about it?”
He said, “I believe it discriminates on my product.”
I said, “Mister, I want you to know that your product is brewed with tears, thickened with blood, and flavored with death. And, if I were you I’d get on my knees right now and ask God to have mercy on me.”
Well, he wasn’t expecting that. I think he wanted an apology.
“Well,” he said, “if you want to talk that way about it,” he said, “I believe that discriminates against my product and is grounds for a lawsuit.”
I said, “Wonderful, sue. I’d like to see this picture on the front page of the newspaper.”
I said, “You know, you’ve got a lot of nerve. You’re constantly bombarding our young people constantly. You’re painting the most beautiful scenes that the artist can imagine, and you’re coming by means of radio, by means of television, by means of newspaper, by means of billboards and everything else telling these kids to drink that stuff. And, you only show half the picture, and I put one measly sign on a parking lot of a church and you got your hackles up.” I said, “I’ll make a deal, you take your signs down, I’ll take my down.” Amen.
• They don’t want to show the finished product.
• They don’t want to show the drunkard in the gutter, covered with his own vomit and flies.
• They don’t want to show the broken homes.
• They don’t want to show the wrecked automobiles.
• They don’t want to show the marriages that have been broken.
• They don’t want to show that. They don’t want to show the serpents bite.
WHY DO MEN AND WOMEN GIVE INTO TEMPTATION?
You see, a man falls into temptation, a woman falls into temptation, because they’re trying to satisfy some EVIL DESIRE WITHIN THEM.
I want to tell you that God made you. God so made you that you can never be satisfied, unless you’re satisfied with Jesus Christ.
Are you listening?
Because He alone Satisfies…
• God made a fish to swim in the sea.
• God made a bird to soar through the air.
• And, God made you to know Him, and to love Him, and to serve Him.
God did something for you that He didn’t do for any of the other creation. God put within you a spirit. God made you in His image, and you are restless, and you will be restless until you rest in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Until you know Jesus Christ…
• You’ll be like a fish in a tree.
• You’ll be like a bird in the sea.
• You’ll be like a round peg in a square hole.
Conclusion:
Illus: There is a story of a man who was visiting Niagara Fall in the spring. Here is what he had to say about his visit.
He tells us “It was spring, and ice was rushing down the river.”
• As I viewed the large blocks of ice flowing toward the falls, I could see that there were carcasses of dead fish embedded in the ice.
• Gulls by the score were riding down the river feeding on the fish. As they came to the brink of the falls, their wings would go out, and they would escape from the falls.
I watched one gull which seemed to delay and wondered when it would leave. It was engrossed in the carcass of a fish, and when it finally came to the brink of the falls, out went its powerful wings. The bird flapped and flapped and even lifted the ice out of the water, and I thought it would escape. But it had delayed too long so that its claws had frozen into the ice. The weight of the ice was too great, and the gull plunged into its death.” (Adaptation of Dr. George Sweetings Special Sermons for Special Days.)
This is a picture of the lost man most of them wait to late!!!
When it comes to temptation we have looked at:
I. A possibility
II. A impossibility
III. A responsibility
