Temptation Island
James 1:12-15
Introduction
(Hand out Hawaiian leis when people come in)
Watching TV one night a commercial came on for a new type of game show while showing an exotic island the announcer says: “6 couples put true love to the ultimate test on Temptation Island.” I thought to myself couples are putting there love to the ultimate test by putting themselves on an island to be tempted “That’s just stupid” and TRUE love is not tested by putting yourself through temptation. True love is resisting temptation, fleeing from the devil, Jesus told us to pray “lead us not into temptation” and yet 6couples are going there willingly. The Word tells us to resist the devil and these couples are told to embrace him. The Word of God has a different take on what the testing of true love is. In John 15:13 Jesus said “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” And I don’t think anyone on that island did that. Jesus was led by the Spirit to be tempted He endured and resisted and the devil fled. Jesus tells us to pray that we don’t go through that and James tells us to endure if tempted and gain the victory. (James1:12-15) James speaks to us about temptation about the endurance of temptation when confronted with it. He tells us about God’s role regarding temptation. And he shows us the cycle that temptation and sin has in our lives.
I. You need to understand How to Endure Temptation
a) Self control
i) Enduring temptation is not the easiest thing in the world to do
ii) when you have something that is before you that you want or lust for
iii) When you have the opportunity to indulge, resistance does not seem to be in our immediate vocabulary
iv) Or at least it is one that is disconnected
v) When one of Focus on the Families senior members was caught in an affair the person was questioned by another and they said didn’t you know of the consequences didn’t you hear the alarm bells ringing? And the reply was yes, but I just disconnected the wires.
vi) When enduring temptation there is one place on our hearts and souls that we must deal with and you must come to grips with if you are going to endure
vii) God will not make you resist temptation. He is not in the “making people do anything” business. He can manipulate situations and harden hearts, but He does not make anyone do anything.
viii) There is something in the fruit of the spirit that we fail to recognize as one of our biggest assets to enduring through temptation and that is Self Control
ix) Self control involves SELF. It involves you making a move or a step towards resistance
x) Luke 4:1-13 How Jesus did not react
(1) He didn’t whine in and on how He was being attacked by Satan
(2) He didn’t dwell on the temptation
(3) Jesus didn’t dwell on the temptation or make it a matter of discussion With Satan Jesus changed the subject to the Word of God rather than focusing on the temptation
xi) (Matt 5:27-30) Jesus talks about do some drastic things
(1) What He is saying “is take drastic measure to get your mind off of the sin or the temptation”
(2) Run out of the room screaming…it’s better
(3) Call a friend… it’s better
(4) Take drastic measures to avoid the sin
(5) Most of us have not reached a point of Hebrews 12:4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.
xii) What are your plans when tempted?
(1) Do you have a plan of escape
(2) Wouldn’t it be nice as soon as you accepted Christ there was a force field around you
(3) You should develop a personal defense system that will protect you
xiii) Satan tried to give Jesus power Jesus tried to give Satan a Bible lesson
xiv) Satan is waiting for “an opportune time” Luke 4:13
b) Approved by God
i) Don’t you have a desire to be Approved by God through the tests that He brings your way or by withstanding temptations, enduring through them when confronted and resisting when it grabs your wrist
c) The crown of LIFE
i) And after that endurance you arrive in the winners circle and you will receive the crown of life for it is reserved for you for those that love Him
II. You need to understand God’s responsibility regarding temptation
a) You are Never Tempted by God
i) God doesn’t tempt us, but He may test us
ii) God does not tempt us with something that He wants us to stay away from
iii) He tests us with something He wants us to grow from
b) God is never tempted
i) God does not get tempted with sin but he asks us to try Him like with the tithe.
ii) Satan is not a threat to God
iii) Many drama depict this struggle between Satan and God or Satan and Jesus, but it is not like that at all
iv) God is not threatened by Satan. Jesus never had a problem telling Satan to get behind Him or reminding Him about what scriptures say
c) Willfull sin
i) We are the ones that have that problem. We have a battle of the mind continuously: we say: If I tell Satan this or that, If I tell him to get behind me or throw scripture at him I may win the battle and then I won’t be able to indulge in this sin I see before me.
ii) Psalm 19:13 Says “Keep back your servant also from presumptuous (or willfull) sins. Let them not have dominion over men Then I shall be blameless and I shall be innocent of great transgressions”
iii) There are sins that we want to do… It is that one thing that keeps us from being blameless or innocent of great transgressions… It is that one thing we get lured into time and time again and we do not have the capacity of breaking the cycle of sin
iv) Which is what James describes to us next in the third point…
III. You need to understand The deadly cycle of sin
James now talks about a cycle of sin that is evident to many men women youth and children. It is obvious to the addict and to the casual sinner. Once sin is aroused all sense of right and wrong goes down the drain. Men will sacrifice everything for a moment of sexual pleasure. Women will sacrifice sons and daughters for a fantasy. The fantasy is always better than the reality. What we can imagine and concoct in our minds is always better than how it would really be. In the fantasy there is no consequences, no hurt. It is in the reality that these things exist. James 1:14 says:
a) Drawn away by your own desires and enticed (preoccupation)
i) This is a fishing term to draw fish out and entice them with bait
ii) And what does the fish do?
(1) Swim around the lure
(2) Convinces himself there’s no danger
(3) persuade himself they won’t get caught
(4) tell himself they can take the bait and not get caught
iii) You may see or hear something that entices you and lures you into sinful behavior
iv) Evil spirits have the ability to enhance an object to give it supernatural appeal
v) This is the very moment that you have to take the aggressive action I talked about
(1) Do not hesitate
(2) Run
(3) Scream scripture
(4) Poke an eye out
vi) Do something drastic
vii) But some of us don’t make it there and we move to the next part of the cycle
b) Desire has conceived (ritualization)
i) At this stage you are beginning to give life to your thoughts
ii) Like a pregnant woman buying baby clothes and nursery furniture we are anticipating the delivery of our sinful act
iii) Though we have not given birth to that sinful deed yet we carry out the rituals that precede it
iv) The most important things we can do in breaking this cycle is to identify what those rituals are:
v) For men it might be:
(1) Surfing the Internet
(2) Reading the personal ads
(3) Browsing the video store
(4) Asking female acquaintances out to lunch
vi) For women it could be:
(1) Driving by the bars
(2) Going into chat rooms
(3) Watching soap operas / listening to love songs /
(4) Flirting playfully
(5) Calling someone who always has the juicy gossip
vii) Make a list for yourself and be ruthless Identify those things that are feeding that recycled sin of yours. If you don’t try to close that door the next level is ineviable…
c) It gives birth to sin (Acting out)
i) The act that has been dreamed about and planned will be acted out
ii) We will find ourselves do those things that we didn’t want to do, but we have already come so far and done our part about making this sin happen
iii) And after we have stepped into that sin and it is over do we feel better now? No.
d) Full grown Sin…brings death (shame)
i) When we act out the outcome is always pain and shame
(1) Instead of life sin gives death
(2) Instead of joy sin gives shame
(3) Instead of pleasure sin give us pain
ii) Names are in the paper probably daily of men and women who have sacrificed their families and careers, because they didn’t attempt to break the cycle early on
iii) Prisons are full, addiction recovery centers are full, homes are full and our computers are full of the continual unbroken cycles of sin.
Conclusion
Challenge: The lei around your neck is a symbol of where you are leading yourself or where the enemy is leading you. Either you are taking your own excursion to Temptation Island, which ends in death. Or the enemy has been luring you with a temptation that you need to endure and flee from. And I am asking you to do this cast it off that lei at the later and tell the enemy I am not going. Walk out rejoicing.
Are you caught in this deadly cycle? Do you have a distorted idea of what temptation is?
