How To Face Temptation | James 1:13-18 | Pastor John Miller

I want you to follow with me in James chapter 1 beginning in verse 13 as we read our text James says let no man say when notice it's not if but when he or she is tempted that I am tempted of God or from God why because God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth but every man or person is tempted when they are drawn away of their own lust and enticed and when lust hath conceived it brings forth sin and sin when it is finished brings forth death do not err my beloved brethren every good gift every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning now his own will be God he as with the word of truth that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures or creation now if you're going to grow as a Christian if you're going to mature in your spiritual walk with the Lord there must be two things you learn to deal with and that is number one trials or tests and we saw that in verses 2 to verse 12 and the second thing you need to learn to deal with if you're going to grow as a believer is temptation verse 13 to 18 the Christian life involves trials and temptation you ask anyone that is walked with God for any length of time and they will wholeheartedly agree that you're going to face trials and tests and temptations to sin so James says this in verse 2 back up with me for just a moment my brother encountered all a joy when again not if but when you fall into and I think that this should be translated diverse are different testings or trials you see the same greek word that is translated test or try is also translated to tempt and the depending upon the context determines what it means so I believe that in verse 2 it's in the noun form he's talking about trials and testings but then notice the contrast in verse 13 we'll get there in just a moment he says let no man say when again not if but when he is tempted now the word tempted there is in the verb form and it's an indication as we look at the context again that he swift switches the subject from trials and testing - now temptation you say well what's the difference God tests us to bring out our worth it's for our good and for his glory but Satan and our lust tempt us to bring out our worse so God tests us to bring out our worth or a value to strengthen and mature our faith Satan tempts us to sin and to disobey God so he says let no man say when you are tempted that is to sin that I am tempted of God now how closely related are these two very closely related trials and temptation because when God allows a trial or testing Satan many times will come in and he'll begin to whisper an ear God doesn't love you you have to take things in your own hands God's not going to provide you have to do what you need to do to get ahead and in the time of trial and testing you will be tempted to doubt God the doubt is love to doubt that he cares about you to doubt that he'll take care of you and so trials can quickly become a temptation and Satan will use that to try to tempt us to doubt God and turn away from him now in our text today we're learning about how to face temptations last week we looked at trials and there are three things that we have to remember I've taken the text and I put them in the three main points so you can remember them now in order to remember them you might want to write them down so you need to write down what you need to remember so you won't forget okay three things you need to remember number one write this down you need to remember temptations source you need to remember temptations source look at verse 13 and 14 let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempting him and here it is verse 14 let no man say when he is tempted you know every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust there it is that's the source his own lust and in ties now again when you are tempted not if you are tempted verse 13 in 1st Corinthians 10:13 another classic verse on temptation Paul says there's no temptation taken you but what is common to man and God is faithful and he will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able and will with the temptation make the way that you can escape but notice he says no temptation taken you but what is common to man so everyone experiences temptation but who is responsible when we are tempted when temptation comes he tells us who's not responsible first I want you to notice that in verse 13 it does not come from God let no man say when he is tempted I am being tempted and literally it's from God so he wants to make it perfectly clear that when we are tempted God's not to blame God's not the source God's not the one who is tempting us to sin now why would James say that I believe because we love to play the blame game someone said there's two errors in American history the passing of the Buffalo and the passing of the buck I like that aren't we good at blaming everyone but ourselves it's not my fault passing the buck it's so common we blame our parents for our problems if I messed up my parents are little problem they spanked me too much so in spanked me enough they wouldn't give me what I wanted or I'm tweaked because of my parents poor parents they get blamed for everything or our family I grew up in a dysfunctional family I said welcome to the club who didn't you know our environment maybe our job and here's the classic our spouse you go I don't believe that well you haven't read the book of Genesis then have you remember when God said to Adam Adam did you eat the fruit I told you not to eat what did Adam say he didn't say God yes you're right I'm sorry please forgive me no he said the woman he probably said like the woman the woman nah it's in the Hebrew the woman that you gave me and notice when he said it to God he said that you gave me God this is your fault I just took a nap and woke up and found that I was married it was you and I and the animals were hanging out everything was sweet then I woke up from a nap and I have a wife that's when everything started to go downhill I'm kidding [Applause] but it is the truth let's be biblical here okay I heard a cute story about a little boy in Sunday school hear the story of Adam falling asleep and God taking from his rib and making the wife Eve and bringing him to the man and a couple days later he's coming over from school he had a side ache and he said mommy mommy I think I'm having a wife [Laughter] least he's listening right but Adam said it's the woman you gave me god it's your problem and then Eve Eve did you eat in the fruit mix she says the devil made me do it she learned that from Flip Wilson by the way the devil made me do it it's his fault I and we're always passing the buck and I believe with all my heart and I've thought about this both biblically and practically for many years that the first step to gaining victory over temptation is admitting that we're the problem I can't blame my wife I can't blame my husband I can't blame my family I can't blame my circumstances that we are the problem don't blame God for sure and he actually in the text I want you to notice that verse 13 he gives the reasons temptation doesn't come from God look at it verse 13 for God cannot be tempted with evil and by the way in the Greek it's it's emphatic starts with God for emphasis God cannot be tempted with evil you want to know why because God is perfectly completely holy God is holy if God does anything God is a holy God he's separate from sin and so God who is holy cannot be tempted with evil there's no needs in God either because God has no needs God is not tempted and then notice it says in verse 13 neither does he that is God tempt any one he doesn't tempt anyone and again it's in Phatak and Greek or literally its and he himself temps no man so temptation doesn't come from God God cannot be tempted and neither does God tempt anyone and sometimes I think well I couldn't help my well God made me this way God gave me this disk drive or this desire its god-given so it's God's fault no it's not a god-given Drive taken out of God's will is a disobedience and sin before a holy God notice where it does come from though here's the positive verse 14 our own lust it comes from our own lust verse 14 you're tempted when you're drawn away of your own lust and enticed so we found the enemy and the enemy is us it's our own sinful passions you ever notice that wherever you go you take yourself with you it's right I'm just gonna move to a new town I won't be tempted anymore hah hah hah hah hah hah I'm just going to go here yeah I'm gonna try to change my environment and maybe then I won't be telling everywhere you go you take yourself with you and you take your own lost in your own desires your own sinful heart now you're not going to understand unless you understand what the Bible teaches about the nature of mankind that we are sinful by nature it's called the fall of man when Adam and Eve sinned and disobeyed God in the garden they fell and everyone born in Adam after that which is the entire human race is born with a sinful fallen human nature we have a sinful bent and that sinful Ben is primarily a rebellion against God and it manifests itself in different ways we're at war with God were at enmity with God and our Unruh generated unconverted state and so we need to have salvation we need to have regeneration we need to have peace with God in order to have peace in our own hearts and the less you understand that man is a sinful being we won't understand the nature and the source of true temptation now the word lust by the way is own lust the word lust is a neutral word it can be a good lust or a bad lust it all depends upon the context we can lust after God we can desire God the word less means desires so there are many desires that God has given that in and of themselves is not sinful but outside of the will of God and add against God's will for our lives they become sinful desires so in this context these are sinful desires are sinful lust now we need to understand that we are going to be sinful and we're going to be wicked and we're going to rebelled against God now there's no mention in this entire text and I want to point this out no mention of the devil now you would think about a classic passage on temptation then on the top of the list would be the devil the Christian has three enemies the world the flesh and what the devil world flesh and devil those are the three enemies of the believer but the world and the devil wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for what my flesh that's the problem I am a sinner and I'm bent toward sin and even a Christian can still yield to his old Adamic sinful nature so we must take responsibility for our sin Jesus said from the heart of man comes evil thoughts and adultery's and murders so stop shifting blame and remember that temptations source comes from you if you're struggling with the sin in your life right now the first thing you need to do is admit that you're the problem that you're responsible don't blame anyone else because you keep doing sinful things it comes from your own desires here's the second thing you need to remember write it down so you can remember what to remember and that is remember temptations course remember the steps that take place when you are tempted the course of temptation with me again to verse 14 and 15 every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed and then when lust hath conceived it brings forth sin our matthean it's a general term for sin means all kinds of sin he's not talking about one specific sin he's a general broad term for disobeying and breaking God's commandments and sin when it is finished brings forth why death now Jesus excuse me James gives us three steps in temptations course I want you to look at him with me verse 14 it starts with desire if you're taking notes write that down desire but every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust or own desire and in ties now uses some terms here you need to understand in verse 14 the first is drawn away it's a fishing term and it actually is was used for a lure a fishing lure now I'm not a fisherman I fished a little bit but you know God bless you men that like to fish I'm bored when I fish it is just kind of boring I think guys fish so they can just go to sleep is what I think just go to sleep and wait for something to bite on the pole friend took me deep-sea fishing on his own boat one time and didn't tell me that you're supposed to get a fishing license I don't fish I don't know about that so we're out there we're a way out you know in some island somewhere and we're fishing in the and and the ocean cops pulled up and they were actually snorkeling and I was actually jigging for bait you know and they pull up and they go them do you have a license and I'm like yeah I pull out my driver's license like duh no they go a fishing line taro fishing license I had visions of going to prison because I was fishing you know it's like man this is insane so I got a big fat ticket for fishing without a license so I don't I don't do fishing and you guys that fish come forward after service I'll pray for you it was crazy but this is referring to a lure now you guys that are fishermen you know the lures have to be the right look the right style the right design right side to catch the right fish at the right place in the right time that to be very specific so your lust are a lure it pulls you away that's the thing that lures you off God's past and then notice the second phrases entice so you're drawn away or lured and then you're enticed and again a fishing term which means to set bait so you set bait so Satan sets the bait but the lure the draw is your own sinful lust the great Greek scholar 80 Robertson said snared by one's own bait I like that and if it weren't for just this sinful heart it wouldn't be a problem but notice that desire secondly leads to disobedience in the course of temptation starts with desire my own lust and then it leads to disobedience I seize the bait notice verse 15 then when lust hath conceived it brings forth sin now this is a picture here of conception so he goes from a word picture of fishing with the lure and bait to conception in the womb he says when lust hath conceived now when there's conception in the womb eventually a baby's going to be born right and in this case it cannot be aborted so the conception takes place and it starts to grow and then the child is born in this case it's stillborn there's death will be the third phase so desire then you have sin or disobedience now let me make a point here that's important it is not a sin to be tempted it is not a sin to be tempted now I know that some Bible students will disagree with me and it's okay you can be wrong if you want to but the Bible says that Jesus was tempted if Jesus was tempted then it's not a sin to be tempted he and all points was tempted like we are he was tempted by the devil in the wilderness turn these stones into bread and all the temptations that he endured but there was no sinful desire in Christ that would lure him away and he resisted those temptations but here we see that we are conceiving by yielding and disobedience to the sin so it's a sinful thought even that can be sometimes a lure it can draws away now by the way it's not a sin to be tempted because Jesus was tempted but let me balance that off because I don't want to be misunderstood sinful thoughts cannot be entertained we cannot allow our minds to think sinful things they must be resisted and they must be rejected someone said you so a fought and you reap an act you saw an act and you reap a habit you sow a habit you reap a character you saw a character and you reap a destiny where does it start it starts in the month let me go well I don't do it I just think about it you know and God knows what we think and we need to have minds that are pure but notice the third stage in the course of temptation it is death notice verse 15 and sin when it is finished or complete brings forth death so it's desire disobedience and thirdly death and we see that in the Bible when Eve was tempted by Satan in the Garden of Eden it was good for food it was good for food she desired and then she did eat she disobeyed and then death came they were separated from God by the way death means separation and there's three kinds of death in the Bible there is spiritual death where you're separated from God and everyone's born separated from God spiritually dead and then there's physical death where your soul and spirit separates from your body which is death and then there's the third that is eternal death when you die and you go to hell and you're separated from God for all of eternity that's the third eternal death and if you die in your sins without being born again of the Spirit then you will be separated from God for all eternity there's also an example in David when he committed his sin of adultery with Bathsheba second samuel chapter 11 started with desire remember King David was walking on the roof of his house it was the time in the spring when all the armies were off fighting war and David was on the rooftop and actually it's been said in the true idleness is the devil's workshop get your mind occupied getting occupied with other things so he's walking around his roof and accidentally he looked over into the next courtyard and he saw a woman taking a bath the beautiful woman taking a bath her name was Bathsheba because she liked to bathe a lot so she's taking a bath and this is what the Bible says first he saw you can't help seeing sometimes but you can help staring you can't help that second look some guys say III don't take I don't take a second look I just take one long first look and that's really what the Bible says he saw and then it says he looked so there's that desire and then there was the disobedience he lied with her he committed adultery and then thirdly it led to death Uriah the Hittite her husband died David murdered him and the child born to Bathsheba out of this adulterous ship died death ensued you know if you want to know what's in will do to your life read Psalm 51 and read the things that God had to ask David to restore into his life after he sinned with Bathsheba he all he said in Psalm 51 created me a clean heart you know that when you sin you no longer have a clean heart he said restore the joy of my salvation he lost his joy in the Lord and he said cast not me cast me not away from thy presence take not your Holy Spirit from me he lost a sense of the presence of God in this life he lost his clean heart he lost his joy he lost a sense of the presence of God in psalm 32 he says day and night when I was living with unconfessed in the hand of God was heavy upon me my moisture was turned into the drought of summer and I can't help but wonder this morning if you aren't here and there's some sin in your life that you need to repent of maybe right now as we're talking about David's sin of adultery maybe you're guilty of that very sin you'd be surprised in a congregation this size how prevalent is sin like that is and maybe God brought you here this morning to be given this warning don't be deceived God is not mocked whatever you sow you're going to reap you sow to the flesh you're gonna reap corruption maybe God is trying to warn you right now about the stealing that you're doing or the lying that you're doing or the deception that you're involved in or maybe the pornography or the drinking or maybe the drugs and God is convicting you right now you need to repent don't wait to the end of this sermon this morning right now right here god knows what you're going through God knows what your need is and you need to turn to God the Bible says in first John 1:9 if we confess our sin that God is what faithful and just who do what forgive us of all of our sin and the cleanses from all unrighteousness why wait to the end of the sermon and run the risk that you don't repent repent right now and ask God to forgive you so what are the steps desire disobedience and sadly the consequence leads to death that's why he warns them in verse 16 do not err don't be deceived my beloved brethren so we need to remember the source of temptation our own lustful desires the course of temptation desires disobedience and death and there's the third and last thing we need to remember we need to remember temptation can be conquered temptation can be conquered the interesting thing about this passage in James and dealing with temptation it goes right to the very source of temptation our sinful desires but I want you to notice verse 16 to 18 he says do not err my beloved brother and every good gift every perfect gift comes from above it comes down from the Father of lights with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning of his own will be God he has with the word of truth that we should be the kind of firstfruits of his creation now there are two keys to victory and I want you to get them at the end of this passage the first is remembering God's goodness write that down remember God is good don't be deceived in verse 16 when he says do not err my beloved brother he's getting right in their face and saying don't be deceived don't be self deceived by blaming other people take responsibility nor by forgetting the goodness of God you know one thing about that temptation does it blinds us to the goodness of God when you're being tempted you basically just forget about God so the one of the best things you can do in a time of temptation is think about God think about goodness of God think about the blessings of God think about what sin will take from you think about the good things that God wants to give to you when Joseph was tempted by mrs. Potiphar first cougar mentioned in the Bible by the way she goes after Joseph and they were alone in the house and and she she took this called the subtle approach Joseph let's go to bed and Joseph is a normal young man I mean he had all the drives of a young man his age but Joseph said this listen to the words that came out of this godly man's life he said how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God he had a god centered focus God is good god loves me God has a great plan for my life God has purpose for me and designed for me why would I disobey God why would I do something that's wicked and sinful and disobey God and so he turned and he ran the Bible says that God provides the way for you to escape sometimes it's your two feet light him up and smoke it out of there man put on your PF Flyers and jam out of there so Joseph just started running she grabbed his coat and accused him of rape and he went to prison went to jail so he did the right thing and he suffered for it but eventually God honored that and God blessed that and exalted him Amen I promise you yes I promise you you obey God you trust God you do God's will and God will bless your life amen you disobey God and you will reap what you have sown if you slow to the spirit you'll reap life everlasting now if you take verse 17 look at it with me for just a moment your Bible the way God gives us good every act of giving what God gives is good perfect gift verse 17 the God gives constantly keeps coming down in the Greek it's in the present tense literally keeps coming down and then fourthly verse 17 the God who gives is good father of lights I love that there's one of those rare places in the Bible where God the Father is called the father of life now in the Bible the word father means generator or source a father of children you generated you're the source of these children those are my children so God is the source of the generator of lights and most Bible scholars believe and I think rightfully so that the lights here are the Sun and the moon and the stars now metaphorically speaking life speaks of goodness and holiness and righteousness and darkness speaks of evil and sin but he's actually just saying God is good and he gave us the Sun God is good and he gave us the moon the lights and all the stars and the host God gave us you know I thank God for the Sun we would die without the Sun I thank God for the moon I thank God for the stars he's the father of lights and noticed this phrase no variableness nor shadow of turning you know we have solar eclipses Sun changes we have lunar eclipses the moon can change and be darkened the stars will shoot and move around the sky but guess what God doesn't change no variableness nor shadow of turning theologians refer to it as the immutability of God God is immutable that means God doesn't change you notice that everything changes everything genu don't think so when you turn 60 get your high school annuals out and look at your picture and weep you changed it's like man I don't even rat I went to my twenty-fifth anniversary and people hey hey John how you doing like I don't know who you are and then when they told me or you looked at their badge or their picture go whoa dude time has not been good to you I didn't say that I just thought that okay thought that I had to resist that with the temptation but I mean everything changes nothing stays thing there is literally only one immutable thing in this whole universe and that's God I don't know about you but I'm glad God doesn't change if God was good ten million years ago then God's good now and he'll be good through all eternity God will never change amen he said well what's this goodness got to do with temptation this just this Satan tries to tempt you to go off of God's path don't do it because God is good he's got the perfect wife he's got the perfect husband he'll bless your family he'll take care of you he'll provide you have to trust maybe you're young and single and you're just like I gotta find a wife gotta find a wife and you go up beat in the bushes looking for a wife you will find a wife that looks like she's been beat out of a bush do you know that God gives the best that's my singles thing you know that God gives the best of those who leave the choice to him if you let God pick your spouse if you let God pick your husband and your wife then it'll be perfect God will take care of you but you have to trust him don't get impatient follow your sinful lust and get out of the will of God and ruin your life and dishonor God God gives the best of those who leave the choice to him God is good God loves you and you can trust God I don't know what you're being tempted at right maybe you're tempted to give up on your marriage God loves you and he wants to heal your marriage maybe you're being tempted to steal or to lie or to have an affair God loves you and he wants to bless your life you have to trust you but here's the last thing that we need to remember about the goodness of God is that you are God's child so under this third and last point remember that temptation can be conquered you first remember that God is good never doubt the goodness of God and secondly you remember as a Christian that you are his child verse 18 of his that is God's own will begat he us now that means that you were born again by the will of God begat he us as a reference to being born again this is what Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3 you must be born again you got that so we've been born again by the will of God I want you to notice that the source of our new birth so we have a new birth and a new nature the source is God's own will verse 18 of his own will not the will of man or the flesh nor a little blood but of the will of God we were born again it was the work of God by His Holy Spirit and then secondly notice in verse 18 the instrument of our new birth is the Word of God which I believe is the gospel of our salvation so we hear the good news preached about Jesus the Jesus came from heaven that Jesus was born of a virgin that Jesus lived a sinless life that Jesus voluntarily died on the cross for our sins that he was buried and rose again from the dead and then if you will put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ your sins can be forgiven and you can be born again and you can become a child of God the instrument is the gospel and when you hear the gospel our responsibility is to do what believe is to put our faith in Christ John 3:16 you all are familiar with it God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever here it is believes in Him will never perish but have what everlasting life and what do you need to do believe that's faith my grace you have been saved through faith that not of yourself it is a gift of God not the faith isn't a gift of God your salvation is a gift of God lest any man should boast so you're saved by his own divine sovereign will but the instrument is the gospel is preached the word of truth and you exercise faith and believe and then thirdly and lastly the purpose of our new birth verse 18 that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creation now that term may not mean a lot to us today what do you mean firstfruits he wants me to be a fruit cake I saw a bumper sticker once that God wants spiritual fruit not religious nuts I like that well what is this first fruits then in the Old Testament whenever they would reap their fields the harvest time the first in gathering of the fruit was dedicated to God it actually belonged to God it was consecrated to God I believe what James is telling us in this passage is that we belong to God I love the new the New Living Translation here it renders it like this he chose to give birth to us by giving us his true Word and we out of all creation became his prized possession in that great God chose to give you new life by believing and trusting in his word and then you become his chosen possession his child so you remember the goodness of God and you remember that you are a child of God why would I do this great sin against God I'm his child I belong to God my body is not my own it's been purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ if you're a Christian you are a child of God God is your father in heaven God is holy and God says this and I'll close be ye holy for I am holy says the Lord amen you can resist temptation you can conquer temptation when you recognize the source when you recognize the course and you recognize how to conquer temptation God is good and I am his child and God will help me through this time let's pray

Channel: Revival Christian Fellowship

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Keywords: revival christian fellowship, john miller, temptation

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Length: 38min 23sec (2303 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 14 2018