06.21.2009 James - How to Deal with Temptation

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Thank You, for the opportunity to worship You. Thank You for the band and for their leading us into Your presence. We sing not to just sing, but to declare You great. You are a father who will never fail. You are faithful. You care for us more than any person could ever care. You always have our best in mind and care for our good. You can be trusted in every circumstance and situation. Help us to have our hearts prepared to listen to You and acknowledge Your greatness.

James 1: 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.

Blamestorming – discussing whose fault it was…
We are this way with relationships. When a relationship goes wrong – when you counsel with them separately, it is always the other person’s fault. No one takes responsibility for his own actions.

Trials – 1:2 – Count it all joy when you encounter various TRIALS – is the same word as TEMPTED in v. 13. Trial  temptations – things that cause us to sin.

In the Greco-Roman world there was a belief that the gods enticed people to do evil. That explains it – the gods enticing them to do evil. That type of thinking carried over into the Jewish world and then into the Christian world of James.

Today – we still have this same mentality of blaming God for things gone wrong. If God were a loving God…there would not be so much suffering…this wouldn’t have happened, babies wouldn’t starve, wars wouldn’t break out – it is blaming God for evil. James wants to make it clear that God is not responsible for evil or cause evil. God give freedom – freedom of choice. In allowing people to be free, God allows evil in the world. We can ask ourselves – why didn’t God make it so Adam and Eve WOULDN’T choose to do wrong? But it must be more important for us to have the choice to do right or wrong.

When you are tempted, you can’t think that God is connected to that temptation. He is not interested in you doing evil and He is not enticing you to do evil.

Gen. 3: 11 And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" 12 And the man said, "The woman whom Thou gavest [to be] with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate." 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

Do you see Adam’s response? Well, God – it is your fault – You gave me this woman. If you hadn’t given me this woman, I wouldn’t have eaten of that tree. That is how we are. We blame God.

James gives us an anatomy of sin – it will help us to understand why we give in to temptation and how we can avoid it.

We know it is simple (sin, that is) – because we do it so well.
James 1: 14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

James is using the reproductive process as an analogy to sin. Gives birth/conceives – we understand these things. Each is tempted when he is lured by his own lust – inside of us there is evil. Like the apple with the worm deep in the core. We are all shiny apples, but there is a worm way down inside. We have, in this context, seeds of lust and desire in side of us. When that is united with the temptation – united by your consent to carry it out – when those two are united, there is conception and it conceives and gives birth to sin.

Sin, when fully grown, gives birth to death.

That is the process.
“His own desire” – these desires are specific and personal. He is trying to show that each of us has certain lusts, desires, sins that we naturally go toward. For you it will be different than for me. Each of us has this. I mentioned this last week – you might think that yours are worse than everyone else’s – depending on your personality – you might believe that yours are the worst – or that everyone else’s are.

Cindy and I were talking – would you agree – for me – my biggest sins are sins of omission – and she said, Oh yeah – I said – for you… “I’m good at both” – she said –her words. IN our minds, we think the sins of commission are worse than sins of omission.

But look at this:
1 Cor. 6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor [the] covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

We have all heard of churchgoers who do terrible things – and we think they are not believers – and we ‘affirm this thought’ – that makes sense – if someone continues habitually in sin…
Matt. 25: 41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me [nothing] to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.
44 "Then they themselves also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' 45 "Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 46 "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

NOW – we’re okay with Corinthians – but if I show you the Sunday school teacher that does not care for the poor, those in prison…are damned eternally. “WHOA! WHERE ARE YOU GOING, PASTOR?” – There is a lot more in both of these passages – but the point is WE look at the sins of commission worse than the sins of omission.

The Pharisees tithed – they weren’t adulterers – but they lacked, neglected, COMPASSION and MERCY. He condemns them the strongest. We need to understand with this whole thing – we each have these seeds of sin in us – they are ALL just as bad – sin is sin.

There are three stages of sin in James
1) Suggestion/Temptation – Hey! Wouldn’t it be nice – wouldn’t that make you feel better – wouldn’t that tasted good?! We’ve all been there. Here is what is important – that is not sin – that is temptation. There is nothing you can do about that! Suggestion will come. But we get discouraged that we were tempted! We are not ready to be tempted. We get discouraged with the initial suggestion – you feel guilty – and then it leads you in. You need to be prepared for temptation. If you are prepared for the suggestion – “It is okay to do this!” – be prepared.
2) Investigation/experiment. That is the WHAT IF stage. What if I did this? I could save a lot of money by lying here. If I twist the truth...
We begin investigating the benefits.
3) Consent – the point you give in – I like this – it will be good – and we do it. Every time you sin you give your consent to the seeds of lust and desire. It doesn’t just happen.

Gen. 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"
That is the beginning of the suggestion.
2 And the woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die.' " 4 And the serpent said to the woman, "You surely shall not die! 5 "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

LOOK! Look at that fruit – that will be so good and do so much good for you – you will feel so much better when you do this! You will be like God! Wealth, power, knowledge – you will have this.

6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make [one] wise,
She looks at it – investigates and experiments – and thinks it will work well for her…
she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
We have all seen this – once we allow the experiment stage, we give our consent almost immediately. That is what Jesus did in the wilderness.
We have Adam – and Christ – who gets tempted 4 times at the level of suggestion and puts an end to it.
We’ll look at the answer
1 Cor. 10: 13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man;
Everyone else faces similar temptations
and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able,
God is true to His character – He is faithful. You are able to win the victory – to overcome the anger/lack of self-control- whatever it is, you have the ability.
but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.
4) God has a way of escape – an exit strategy for every evil suggestion. What James does – He gives us the exit strategy.

James 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. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

First – after talking about temptation – he goes to God’s good gifts – FIRST – when trials come into your life and make life difficult and erode your faith in God then temptation begins to come in and you need to go back to understand that God is good – consistent – and faithful. Every temptation is an attack on the character of God. “Did God REALLY say…?”
We must always go back to the fact that God is good and has my best in mind and that this temptation is an attack on God. To resist temptation requires faith in God’s goodness and kindness. If you are the guilty type, you will just think YOU don’t have enough determination – but it begins with the forgiveness of God. When you give in – you are thinking wrongly about God. You cannot continue in sin without thinking wrongly about God.
James 1:19 [This] you know, my beloved brethren. But let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak [and] slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God
Don’t allow your suffering to turn into sin.
In order to avoid sin we need a heart of humility that is responsive to God. When you give in, you are not responding to God. Your heart is not responding to God and His love for you. Be QUICK to hear, respond, listen./

One of life’s great questions – how we will live in and through whatever happens. We cannot change our circumstances – how will we relate to them? Resentfully or gratefully? Think of this example – we have crashed into one another on the highway – producing injury and I might have bitterness. You might have injury – but see it as a call to respond. How do we respond. Even in the dark moments, we are invited to choose light. A key in understanding suffering has to do with us NOT REBELLING at the inconvenience and pains life presents to us –
Henri Nouwen

James is saying the same thing. They are going through difficulty – and think it is their right to give in.

There is a group of us going through a series on sexual addiction. The guy doing this is a Bible school teacher/psychiatrist – and a sexual addict. The toughest time was after a sermon “I deserve something because of what is going on in my life.”
It is easy for us to think we deserve an escape.
James 1: 21 Therefore putting aside all filthiness and [all] that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

Understand that God loves you – have a responsive heart – PUT OFF, put away ALL EVIL. Once you get it – take action! Remove yourself from the place of temptation – whatever it is – put it off!
1) Confess
2) Flee!
3) Get help!
Get out of the circumstance and then get help in that area.
22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves
Put off the evil, put on – move away from this – not moving from one thing to nothing! Like the demons cast out – you have to put on something positive – that positive thing is obedience to God’s word. Flee it and become obedient. The solution – that is what Jesus did – rejected the temptation and turned to God’s word.

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for [once] he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the [law] of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does.

What he is doing – this is James attempt at being humorous – like some pastors we know ;) – their mirrors weren’t quite like ours – more like polished metal.
The person who doesn’t do it – is like someone who looks at himself but doesn’t deal with the food on his face.
When you go to the word…
The Law is not the ten commandments, but the gospel. The power to not give in does not come from you but from Christ in you. The person who does not have Christ has no power to overcome. The one in Christ is a new creation – with the power and ability to reject sin and be a different person. We discover that through His word.

Let's pray...