Defeating Temptation: Part 1 - James Lesson 7

 Let’s open our Bibles to the book of James. We are switching gears a little as we have reached a new topic in this letter. From the beginning of the letter we have been focused on James’ instruction on trials. He has taught us, through the first 12 verses, how to glorify God in our response to trials. We learned from those verses that trials are inevitable in this life and that there is a way to respond to those trials which honors and glorifies God. Responding in the way James instructs us to respond requires the right attitude, the right understanding of what God is doing, wisdom from God, unwavering faith, and the right perspective, which is an eternal perspective. That is about as brief a review as I have ever done but if you missed any of those messages on the first twelve verses I suggest you go to the website and listen.

 As we come to verse 13 we find that James changes gears just a little to discuss the issue of temptation. This isn’t a dramatic change in topic. In fact it is very similar to the topic of trials. So similar, in fact, that the word translated “trials” in verse 2 is “peirasmos” and it is the noun form of the same word used in verse 13 which is translated “tempted.” It is the verb “peirazo.” But James is speaking of a different topic because trials and temptations are different. While they are different, they are often very much related. We understand this because we know that every trial is also an occasion of temptation. How is this? Well, if we do not respond to the trial in a way that honors and glorifies God, we will respond in a way that does not honor and glorify Him. That is to fall into temptation.

 When trials come and we respond to those trials with complaining, or worry, or fear, or doubts, or anger, or really any response other than joy, we have succumbed to temptation. Every trial is an opportunity for us to be tempted to sin. But trials are not the only opportunities for temptation. We are surrounded by and constantly assaulted by things that tempt us to sin. The certainty of temptation is as certain as are trials. Temptation will happen. James tells us in verse 13, “Let no one say when he is tempted…” He does not say “if”. So, in these verses James is telling us how to deal with and defeat temptation. Let’s read verses 13-18.

 We are going have to take two weeks to look at these verses because they describe for us two important factors in our victory over temptation. We defeat temptation when we understand both factors. The first factor is described in verses 13-15. James explains the truth about temptation. Knowing the truth about where temptation comes from, how temptation works, and what temptation does, all this helps us defeat temptation. That is what we have in verses 13-15. Today we will understand the truth about temptation by seeing where temptation comes from, how it works, and what it does. If we have time to cover verse 16 we will see why so often works.

 The second factor in our victory over temptation is in understanding the work of salvation. We defeat temptation, not only by understanding temptation, but also by understanding the work of salvation. This is what James explains in verses 17-18. We defeat temptation because defeating temptation is the result of our spiritual birth and our new life in Christ. That is for next week and I am excited to tell you that following next week’s message on the work of salvation we will be baptizing Landon. 

 Critical to the defeat of temptation is an understanding of temptation. James gives us three important details about temptation in verses 13-15. He tells us where temptation comes from. He tells us how temptation works. And he tells us what temptation does. I will go ahead and tell you that the same outline will work for next week as well. James, as he describes for us the role of salvation in our victory over temptation, will also tell us where salvation comes from, how salvation works, and what salvation does.

 Let’s begin by looking at where temptation comes from. The first truth we find here is the fact that temptation does not come from God. This is clearly stated in verse 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.” As clearly as any fact is stated anywhere in Scripture, we read here that God is not the source of temptation. We cannot blame God when we fall into temptation and sin. God is not the Author or cause of sin. God tempts no one to sin.

 In spite of how clearly James states this truth in this verse, God is a common target when we play the blame game. God is really the favorite target of sinful man when it comes to placing blame for our sin. It has been this way since the beginning. You remember the Genesis account of the Fall of man into sin. When God confronted Adam, what was his response? It was the woman, whom You gave to me, she ate and gave it to me and I ate. Adam’s defense was that he was not responsible. He said to God, in effect, “I laid down to take a nap and I woke up and there she was. I didn’t even know what a woman was. You made her and gave her to me. I didn’t have anything to do with it. She was the one who ate and gave it to me and this happened because You made her and gave her to me.” Adam was blaming God. He didn’t even know what a woman was but he woke up married to one. How can he be responsible for that?

 Eve didn’t do much better. She blamed the serpent. She was really blaming God as well. He made the serpent. She just listened to him and took his suggestions. But if God hadn’t made that serpent, or hadn’t allowed the serpent into the garden, she would have been just fine.

 You might say, “Well, I would never do that! I would never blame God for my sin.” This strategy of blame works in subtle ways. If you struggle with lust, haven’t you entertained the idea that God made you with a sexual desire and He also made those women to look like they look. It’s not my fault I struggle with lust. It is the way He made me and the way He made women to look.

 If you struggle with anger, haven’t you entertained the idea that you wouldn’t get as angry as often as you do if it wasn’t for the people and the circumstances that provoke you to anger. Isn’t God sovereign over all the circumstances of your life? Doesn’t that make Him responsible for your anger problems? If God would just change the people around me I wouldn’t have the struggles I have with anger.

 We like to play the blame game when it comes to our sin because we don’t like the idea of personal responsibility. This is why the homosexual blames God because He is the one that made them the way they are. They won’t even accept as sin what the Bible calls sinful because they believe that God made them to have same sex attractions.

 There are other ways God is blames for sin. Our culture has defined alcoholism and drug addictions as a disease. Why? Because a disease is not something that is your fault. A disease is something your are the victim of. A disease is something you catch. No one does a drug addict or an alcoholic a favor by excusing their problem as a disease. It absolves them of personal responsibility and that will not help them get past the addiction. Drug addicts and alcoholics are in the situation they are in because of personal choices they make. The same is true for someone entangled in a gambling addiction, or an addiction to pornography. But we love to play the blame game.

 Really, all these are attempts to blame God for our sin. If I can call an addiction to drugs a disease, who then is ultimately responsible? God is responsible because I didn’t make myself the way I am. He is the One who made me and He made me with this problem. He made me with this propensity toward addiction.

 God is not responsible for our sin. No one can say when he is tempted that he is being tempted by God. God cannot be tempted with evil and He Himself does not tempt anyone. As popular as is the practice of blaming God, and as easy as it is to blame God, James is telling us straight up that we cannot blame God because He isn’t responsible for our sin.

 God cannot be tempted with evil. The word is used only here in the New Testament, apeirastos it means, he is not experienced in evil.  He has no experience of evil.  He has no capacity for evil.  He has no vulnerability to evil. All evil repulses God.  EVil can find no place in His holy character. The nature of evil is infinitely apart from the holiness of God.  In Leviticus 19:2 and Leviticus 20:26, the Lord is holy.  In Isaiah 6, Holy, holy, holy.  1 Peter 1:16, the Lord is holy.  Holiness cannot be penetrated by sin.  So the nature of evil then sets it apart from God.  He can be solicited with an evil intent.

 So, if temptation does not come from God, then from where does it come? You have probably heard the old quote from an old comic strip that says, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” That is the truth stated from verse 14. “But each one is tempted…” Stop there. Each one is tempted. As surely as you have blood pumping through your veins and breath being sucked into your lungs, you will face temptation. Temptations are the common experience of every person. Paul tells us that temptations are common to man. James says “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lusts. The problem lies within each of us.

 So we have the first point. Where does temptation come from? It comes, not from God, but from us. It is something we all deal with. Each of us is tempted. Because we are tempted, if we are going to gain the victory over temptation, we need to understand not just where it comes from, but also how it works. James goes on in verse 14 to explain to us how temptation works.

James goes on to say in verse 14, “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.” This is a present participle in the Greek which indicates continuous action in the present time. We are constantly facing temptation. We continually face the ongoing struggle with temptation. This is why it is important to learn how to live victoriously in the face of temptation. It isn’t going away. It is here to stay. The first thing to understand about how temptation works is to understand that it works relentlessly. This means that we are not given the luxury of dropping our guard.

 There are two interesting and insightful words used here that help us know how temptation works. The first is the Greek word translated “carried away.” The Greek word is “exelko” if you like Greek words. It is a term from the world of hunting and it means to draw out or drag out from the right way. Temptation is a drawing away from the right way. Duck hunters use decoys and duck calls to draw the ducks into range. Temptations are things that draw us away from the right way. The right way is the way God has prescribed that we should live.

 The second word here is enticed. It is “deleazo” in the Greek. It is a term from the fishing world. It means to bait, to entice, to beguile. I fish with a plastic lure that looks like a minnow and hidden in the plastic lure is a hook. I entice the fish to bite the plastic lure so I can catch it with the hook. I am appealing to the natural desire of the fish to eat. I beguile the fish and when he bites he is hooked. If he is big enough, and if he doesn’t manage to get off before I get him in the boat, the result is…you know.

 Temptations are luring us into a trap. Temptations always promise pleasure and satisfaction but it never provides what is promised. Pleasure and satisfaction are promised but pain and problems are what we end up with if we are drawn away from God’s ways and take the bait which looks attractive and appealing.

 James tells us what it is that draws us and entices us. It is our own lust. This is “epithumia” in the Greek. It describes a strong desire or a longing. It is descriptive of our fleshly desires and appetites. We might describe these as sensual desires. The desires themselves are not sinful. These are God-given appetites and desires. Temptations are enticements to fulfill God-given appetites in ungodly ways. God created us with a desire for food. If we fulfill that God-given appetite in an ungodly way we become gluttons. If we fulfill our God-given appetite for sleep in an ungodly way we become sluggards. If we fulfill our God-given appetite for sex in an ungodly way we become fornicators or adulterers. 

 We probably do not all struggle in the same way with every temptation. Each one is drawn away and enticed by his own lusts. Some people are legitimately drawn away and enticed by homosexual desires. I don’t understand that. I will never be tempted in that area. I am repulsed by the idea of that. My struggle is with temptation in the sexual arena doesn’t work like that. The fact is that we all struggle, with our own lusts, our own temptation.

 Why do we struggle with temptation? I wish I did not. Many have sought relief from the problem of temptation. Monks believed that if they isolated themselves from the rest of society in a monastery somewhere they would be free from the temptations that plague every person. They were wrong. They can cut off their hands, gouge out their eyes, and surgically modify their physical bodies, but they cannot eliminate the problem with the sinful desires that reside within each one of us.

 James is writing to believers, to Christians. In this passage, in verse 16, he calls them beloved brethren. For some reason, as God was deciding what the cumulative effects of salvation would be on the human race, He decided that salvation, at least in this life, would not set us free from the presence and power of temptation. This is why Paul described himself in Romans 7 as a man of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. He recognized that nothing good dwells in the yet unredeemed flesh of the Christian. He found that the principle of evil was still present in him. It is still present within us as well, otherwise we would not need to know how temptation works.

 That is not to say that we must sin. That is not to say that we cannot live in victory over temptation. I wish that every temptation was taken away from me, now, but it isn’t and it will not be. I will continue to struggle until I draw my final breath. But God is faithful, who will not tempt us beyond what we are able, but will, with the temptation make a way of escape so that we may be able to bear it. (1 Cor. 10:13)

 We know where temptation comes from. We know how it works. We also learn from James what it does. This is what we learn from verse 15. “Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”

 I want to start out by saying that this is not the inevitable result of temptation. This is what temptation does if it is not withstood by the Christian. We do not have to succumb to temptation. We do not have to let lust conceive and give birth to sin. We can flee from temptation. We have been given the Holy Spirit to empower righteous living. We don’t have to sin. Because we are true followers of Christ we are no longer slaves to our fleshly desires. Paul describes us as those who “formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath…” This is what we read in Ephesians 2, just prior to my favorite word in the Bible. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…” My friends, that transaction of salvation has set us free from the law of sin and of death. Lust conceiving and bringing forth sin is not an inevitable reality if we are truly born again and chose the path of obedience.

 But if we do not – if we do not flee from youthful lusts, if we do not crucify the flesh with its passions, if we do not set our minds on things above, if we do  not consider the members of our earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, (Colossians 3:5) and we allow our lustful passions to do what our sinful passions will do, then we will come to see what temptation will do. Lust will conceive and give birth to sin, and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

 There is one more thing to note at the onset of this point. It is not a sin to be tempted. Everyone is tempted. Everyone deals with fleshly desires. Satan cannot be blamed for the temptation. The problem is not Satan, or demons. The problem is with us, and our sinful flesh. Satan has cultivated a culture that facilitates lustful passions. And we are bombarded on every front with temptations. The extent to which we are confronted can leave us weary and even discouraged. But we do not sin just because we are tempted. Satan loves to condemn us when we succumb to temptation. He loves to discourage us simply because we are tempted. He is a liar. And his lies might speak into our ears something like this, “How can you call yourself a Christian as easily as you are tempted to lust?”

 If it is a sin to be tempted then Jesus was a sinner. He was tempted in the wilderness. He was tempted in all points as we are tempted, yet He was without sin. This is why He is our sympathetic High Priest. It can be discouraging to have to continually fight temptation. I keep hoping that the older I get the less I will have to deal with temptation, but this is a futile hope. But I can be encouraged as I win the battles against temptation and this I can do because of the power of Christ in me.

 But if I do not win the battle, if I do not flee immorality, if I do not consider the members of my body as dead to sin, if I entertain those lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the boastful pride of life, then those lusts will conceive and give birth to sin. James changes his focus from the hunting and fishing metaphor to one of conception and childbirth.

 No child is born unless a man and a woman make the decision to take the steps that will result in the conception of a child. Lust conceives when we are confronted with a temptation, and we make a decision to feed the lust rather than to consider the members of our body as dead to sin. One thing that helps us is a determination before the temptation arrives that we will stay as far away from anything tempting as possible. We get into trouble easily if we allow ourselves to get as close to temptation as possible, thinking that we can handle the temptation. Paul told Timothy to “flee.” Stay as far away as possible.

 James is describing a process. This process begins with a desire. Our desires are often related to an emotion. We are vulnerable to our lusts when we are emotionally charged up. We begin to listen to our feelings rather than the truth. We feel like we deserve to be satisfied. We then start leaning on our feelings and stop listening to the Holy Spirit.

 The desire, aided along by our feelings leads us to believe things that are not true. We move from desire into deception. We begin to rationalize and justify our desires and lie to ourselves. This is how we fall into the trap of deception. At this point in the process we look at the bait and lie to ourselves about the presence of the hook that is in the bait. We ignore the truth that whatsoever a man sows, this he will also reap.

 Desire, coupled with deception, will inevitably lead to disobedience. If lust is given the chance to conceive, it will give birth to sin. There is a reason James put what is in verse 16 here. He writes, “do not be deceived my beloved brethren.” How are we deceived? We are deceived, usually, by the lies we tell ourselves. We tell ourselves that this website might have something helpful, when we know it is likely to have something destructive. We tell ourselves that a little longer glance in her direction won’t hurt anything. We tell ourselves that since we are being neglected in our relationship at home we deserve a little comforting and interesting conversation with the co-worker of opposite sex. The lies we tell ourselves to justify our foolishness are without limit. We justify our greed when we purchase the lottery ticket. We lie to ourselves and tell ourselves that it isn’t greed. I don’t want to win the lottery because I want to be filthy rich. I want to win the lottery because I want a lot of money to help others.

 Sometimes we deceive ourselves by justifying our sin as nothing serious. I’m just looking at pictures, I’m not really cheating on my wife. I’m not really angry, just frustrated, as if that is something different and not nearly as offensive to God. I’m not gossiping, I’m just hoping to get more people praying about this situation. I could go on and on. If we understand the majestic holiness of God, we must understand how offensive our sin is to Him.

 Sin, when it is finished brings forth death. The wages of sin is death. Do not be deceived about this my friends. Lust conceives and brings forth sin and sin results in death. This is exactly what God told Adam and Eve that the consequences of sin would be. God cannot lie.

 I hope you understand that every sin is punished with the consequence of death. The holiness of God demands His righteous wrath be executed to the full for every violation of His perfect standard. To sin is to miss the mark of God’s perfect standard. And we all miss that mark. This is why we must understand that our sin, every sin, either has been punished, or will be punished with the sentence of death.

 Either we will endure that punishment, or we embrace Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and believe that He endured that punishment in our place. If we trust Christ as the One who took our place and endured the wrath of God for us, we will repent of our sins and we will strive to live a righteous life for His glory and honor.

 Do not be deceived by beloved brethren. All sin brings forth death, either for us, or for our Substitute Jesus Christ.