Facing Temptation

James 1: 12 – 18

Let me share a short story with you about this man who was seriously ill. A visitor asked him if he was willing to turn his life over to God and reject the devil. "I am willing to give my life to God," he said, "But a man in my condition should not be making any enemies."

We may laugh, but we must not forget that the strength and influence of the devil is real. And all he wants is your soul and the main way in which he tries to win over our souls is by tempting us away from God. And for Christians this is our greatest challenge in life, trying deal with the temptations he brings our way.

And although every single Christian struggles with temptations, no other Christian struggles more than a young Christian. And part of the reason for that is because it takes a while to believe and know how sin works in our lives. But take courage because James is going to help us this morning to understand temptations in 3 ways.
1) In James 1:12- 18, James is going to tell us about a promise for those who endure temptations.
2) He’s going to warn us not to point the source of those temptations at the wrong person.
3) And finally he’s going to help us understand how sin works in our lives.

And so we begin with the promise in James 1:12 “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him..” James tells us that the person who remains faithful during temptations is going to be blessed. The Greek word for "blessed" simply means "happy." And the reason for their happiness is because when they pass the test of temptation, they are going to receive the crown of life.
In other words, the promise is the promise of eternal life. And let me tell you; a promise is as good as the person who makes it. We trust people who make and keep their promises don’t we? BUT, I am sure that we have all encountered people who may promise you something and then don’t hold up their end of the deal. Well, the promise which James is talking about here is given by Him Who cannot lie.

We can read in Titus 1:2 “in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time.” God doesn’t lie and when He promises eternal life, He means it. And He says that this promise is given to everyone who proves their love for God by keeping the faith through temptations. And so, James, after sharing this promise of eternal life goes on to share with us a warning about temptations.

James 1:13 “If we are tempted by such trials, we must not say, "This temptation comes from God." For God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one”. One of the fundamental mistakes which young Christians make is that they blame God for the temptations which come their way. James says, listen, don’t go blaming God for your temptations. Why?

Simply because God is a Holy God and He cannot be tempted by evil nor will He tempt anyone to do evil. In fact James elaborates on this point in James 1:16-18 “Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.”. You see, don’t go deceiving yourself into thinking that God is tempting you because God is the source of good, not evil. Every good and perfect gift comes from Him.

James says Christians should certainly know that God is never going to tempt us with evil. And so just to make sure we don’t miss the point James goes on to help us understand how sin works.
There was a man who hated his wife’s parakeet. So, you can imagine how surprised the wife was one day to hear the husband taking the time and effort to coax the bird to speak. But when she carefully listened to what her husband was saying to the bird, she nearly choked. Along with its constant, annoying jabbering, the bird also started calling out a suicidal, “Here kitty, kitty, kitty.”

Now, that is the first stage of sin, it starts with temptation. James says in James 1:14 “but each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed”. Now notice the temptation stage involves two things. It involves a strong desire for something AND it involves being trapped! We become trapped by looking for an opportunity to satisfy that desire!!! In other words, temptation needs a desire and an opportunity.
A well-known author once told this story of an account he had with sea gulls: “Several years ago our family visited Niagara Falls. 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 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 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 the abyss.”
How sad that even though the bird had plenty of time to fly away, because it delayed it paid the price. Now think of this story in terms of the Christian life. When we become overly enthralled with the things of this world, they can bring us down and cause our spiritual death. The finest attractions of this world become deadly when we become overly attached to them.
I now want you to take a moment and imagine the following scenario. Can you see him running, he is running with all his might? Look at the beads of sweat popping out on his forehead. Each step that he takes is labored; he is exhausted from the struggle. Can you see the fear in his eyes as he looks back over his shoulder? Something’s got a hold on him and won’t let go. It’s like some invisible force that has attached to him and won’t let him go. No matter how hard he fights it, it’s still there. The relentless enemy keeps drawing the prey closer and closer. As the victim is reeled in, like a fish that has taken the lure, the emotions of shame and disgrace overshadow his soul. The thoughts,” Oh MY, Oh MY why did I fall in this trap” pierce his fear shattered mind. And ALL the Angels of Heaven begins to weep as another one is overcome by that deadly beast; TEMPTATION.
Being tempted is not sinful. Jesus Himself was tempted as we can read in Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin”. So, being tempted is not sinful, but the time to start worrying begins when we get to the next stage of sin and that is the sin itself.
James 1:15 “Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” In other words, for temptation to lead to sin it needs us to take action and act upon it. In the Australian bush country grows a little plant called the "sundew." It has a slender stem and tiny, round leaves fringed with hairs that glisten with bright drops of liquid as delicate as fine dew. Now it may look beautiful but it is very dangerous to any insect that dares to dance on it. Although its attractive clusters of red, white, and pink blossoms are harmless, the leaves are deadly. The shiny moisture on each leaf is sticky and will imprison any bug that touches it. And as an insect struggles to free itself, the vibration causes the leaves to close tightly around it. And this innocent looking plant then feeds on its victim. And that’s what sin does in the life of a Christian, it tempts us and when we give in to the temptation,
if were not careful that sin will crush us and take our souls. Which is the final stage of sin, it leads to death.
Now we all should know what sin is, sin is spiritual separation from God and we also know that any sin which isn’t forgiven will result in spiritual death. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” And so when we are talking about death we’re talking about eternal punishment.
James is telling us that if we are not careful our desires which we act out when we have the opportunity, if they are not confessed to God and repented of are going to lead us into eternal punishment. But now that we have a better understanding about how temptation and sin work, we also need to look at how we can help fight these temptations which we have. And since we know that the sin process begins with desires the best place to begin for us to overcome sin is to change our desires.
Romans 12:1 - 2 tells us “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God”. And the way we change our desires is by regularly read the Bible. Don’t fight the devil using his means but God’s and we need to understand this morning that it’s only when we use God’s will can we overcome sin. Psalm 119:11 “I keep your law in my heart, so that I will not sin against you”.
Remember when Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil? All the way through Matthew 4:3-10 when the devil tempts Jesus with one thing, Jesus always replied by saying ‘IT IS WRITTEN!”. In other words for us to change our desires we need to read God’s word to discover His desires for us. Because the more we read His word, and read about His patience love for us, the more we should long to serve Him.

If anyone is into gardening they would know if you wanted to slow the growth or destroy a plant or flower you would just nip off the buds or shoots. And what the Bible teaches us is that when Christians regularly read God’s word, the less likely they are going to have those desires to sin against God. In other words they ‘nip it in the bud’; they nip the temptation in the bud and destroy it before it grows.
Now please don’t misunderstand me here, I know that it takes time to change our desires but one of the other ways we can help ourselves while the change is happening is to limit our opportunities to sin. Now remember, we are tempted only when there is both desire and opportunity. So while we work on changing our desires, we should limit the opportunities to fulfil wrongful desires. And the only way that is going to happen is when we finally understand that we can’t do that on our own, we need God’s help. Matthew 26:41 “Keep watch and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
In other words, you can’t do it on your own! You need to ask God to help you but you also need to help yourself by avoiding situations which are really going to tempt you. We need to reach the lost, we need to mix with the lost but we also need to be very carefully that we don’t end up lost ourselves.
If I had a barrel full of bad apples and I placed a good apple inside the barrel what would happen? Would the good apple help the bad apples to get good? No! The bad apples would slowly infect the good apple until the good apple eventually looked like the rotten apples.
Paul warns us about that in 1 Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be fooled.” Bad companions ruin good character." Now even though we can read God’s word to help us change our desires. Even though we can ask God to help us while we are being careful not to put ourselves into a sinning opportunity. We need to also to be honest with each other here;
we can never eliminate every single temptation which we have as Christians. Remember, it becomes sin when we yield to acting and fulfilling our sinful desires. And so, if we can get in early and control ourselves then we can overcome sin. When we become Christians, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives according to Acts 2:38. And one of the roles of the Spirit in our lives is to give us strength. Paul says in Ephesians 3:16 “I ask God from the wealth of his glory to give you power through his Spirit to be strong in your inner selves.”
You see we all have this inner struggle going on, but we have help. God’s Holy Spirit is working us and strengthening us so that we can win this inner fight. Romans 8:12 - 13 “So then, my friends, we have an obligation, but it is not to live as our human nature wants us to. For if you live according to your human nature, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death your sinful actions, you will live”. In other words without the Holy Spirit we have no chance of winning this inner struggle.
James says in James 1:14 “But we are tempted when we are drawn away and trapped by our own evil desires”. We may all desire different things but we all share the problem of desires. And what we need to remember is that God wants you to win the temptation war within your own lives. Philippians 2:12+13 “So then, dear friends, as you always obeyed me when I was with you, it is even more important that you obey me now while I am away from you. Keep on working with fear and trembling to complete your salvation, because God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey his own purpose.”
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:13 “Every test that you have experienced is the kind that normally comes to people. But God keeps his promise, and he will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; at the time you are put to the test, he will give you the strength to endure it, and so provide you with a way out.”
1 John 1:9 “But if we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing”. John also tells us in 1 John 2:1 - 2 “I am writing this to you, my children, so that you will not sin; but if anyone does sin, we have someone who pleads with the Father on our behalf---Jesus Christ, the righteous one. And Christ himself is the means by which our sins are forgiven, and not our sins only, but also the sins of everyone.”
John says when the Christian sins; if they confess those sins to God and repent ... then Jesus Christ will speak to the Father on their behalf.
In the words of the hymn writer Horatio Richmond Palmer
Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin;
Each victory will help you some other to win;
Fight manfully onward, dark passions subdue,
Look ever to Jesus, He’ll carry you through.
Ask the Savior to help you, Comfort, strengthen and keep you; He is willing to aid you, He will carry you through.

Based on Sermon Given by Mike Glover