"escaping From Temptation"

“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.