The Devil made me do it!

James 1:12–18 (NIV)

12Blessed 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.

13When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;

14but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.

15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

16Don’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.

Introduction

Now have you ever heard the phrase “The Devil made me do it!” It was a phrase made popular in the 60’s and 70’s by a comedian named Flip Wilson.

But Sin is no laughing matter. We can’t blame everything on Satan or anyone else!

If we look near the beginning of Genesis at the the scene of the Garden of Eden we see God talking to Adam and Eve about their disobedience.

Adam blames the woman and Eve blames the serpent. Each is trying to place the blame on someone else.

As Adam & Eve faced temptation, so will we. It’s not a question of “if”. It’s a question of “when”.

There are three things to remember about temptation that will help us to defeat it.

I. The temptation that deceives

16Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.

We all have been mislead at one point. Like the used car salesman who gives you a pitch to buy a used car and tells you the car runs great but, fails to tell you that the brakes don't work.

Even though it might sound like he was telling the truth, he was distorting the truth and that's exactly what deception is.

You might of heard it said to just “trust your heart” but according to Jeremiah 17:9 |the heart is deceitful above all else!

We can compare sin to carpenter bee’s and the damage they do.

Carpenter bee’s dont have a stinger but over time they can do a lot of damage and are just plain annoying.

They can eventually drill holes in wood and if they aren’t dealt with it can destroy it.

Sin can be the same way. In our minds we can say “this isn’t hurting anyone” a little sin here and there.

But over time they can add up and have a horrible affect on the foundation of your life.

This is what the enemy does in our lives. He tries to make us believe sin isn’t a big deal

It was successful for Satan in the garden with Adam and Eve but, Satan soon found out it wouldn't be successful with God's Son.

In the Gospels, Satan tells Jesus to throw himself down from the temple surely God will send his angels to catch you.

Satan is using the temptation of deception here and is attempting to get Jesus to dare his father to rescue Him.

Do we do this sometimes? Do we put ourselves in situations where we are daring God to rescue us?

Are we giving in to the temptation of deception and deceiving ourselves or others?

That's why we must be careful who we choose as our friends and what stuff we allow ourselves to be around.

Along with the deceitfulness of temptation there is the temptation that doubts the goodness of God

17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

2. The temptation that doubts the goodness of God

We have the Good gift of God’s Son

When God is called “the Father of lights,” it speaks of His identity as the Creator.

The ancient pagans believed the lights in heaven, the sun, the moon, and the stars were gods.

James tells us that God Himself is the Creator of the stars above.

They are not gods, but were made by God, our Father. But, God gave man more than just the lights in the sky!

When God sent His Son, Jesus into the world, He gave man His greatest gift. Heaven’s light was sent into the world to illuminate our darkness

How do we respond when God’s goodness shines on others?

Matthew 20 paraphrase

Once upon a time, there was a wealthy man who, early one morning, dropped by the marketplace, which was the ancient equivalent to the unemployment office.

There he hired a bunch of guys to work in his vineyard for an agreed upon rate of pay.

A few hours later, he went back again and then again later that same day, each time employing more and more men.

In fact, as Jesus told it, the owner of the vineyard hired extra workers right up until quitting time. The last men were hired just one hour before sunset.

As the last light of day faded, the workers gathered to receive their pay.

They were lined up in order from the last ones hired and working backward.

And this is when Jesus tucked a zinger into the story. Every man, no matter how long they had worked that day, received exactly the same pay: one day's wages.

I don't have to tell you that things got a little testy by the time the line reached its end. A low murmur passed among those who were hired early that morning.

Finally someone just said it: "This is not right. We got a bum deal. You have short-changed us!

We did most of the work today. We carried the burden under the hot sun. But you treated them as equals in the labor!"

Jesus put these words in the mouth of the owner of the vineyard: "Didn't we agree together on what I would pay you?

I've kept my word to you. Now don't begrudge my desire to be generous!

For reasons that are mine, I wanted to do something unexpected, something crazy, something that would make these men run home to their families and say, 'You're not going to believe what happened to me today!

now even though some of the workers worked more, that doesn’t mean that God gave them less of his goodness because they all received the same pay. Gods grace is extended to all.

Satans final temptation of Jesus

In the final temptation for Jesus, Satan shows Jesus all the glory of the world , and tells him everything can be his but, only if he bows down and worships him.

Satan tempts us the same way today with materialism and power. Tries to tell us that we need to look a certain way.

Satan was telling Jesus the king of kings that he didn't have to go to the cross, that he could take the easy way out.

I think later in the ministry of Jesus, he looks back at this temptation when he says "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"

Satan will try to tempt us with the glories of the world and the pride of life.

He will try to cause doubt about who we are in Christ as he attempted to cause doubt about who Jesus was.

Once again, Jesus responds with scripture and says "you must worship the Lord your God and serve him only"

We need to take a stand on God's Word and refuse to bow down to the feet of Satan and the world.

There’s the temptation of deceit, the temptation of doubt and there is also the temptation of desire.

3. The temptation of Desire

Jesus had fasted 40 days and forty nights. It's obvious that he was hungry, so Satan tried to tempt Jesus using His desire for food. Satan does the same thing to us today.

He will look and wait for us at the moment of weakness and pounce on us.

He is a roaring lion who seeks to kill and destroy. He will wait until our relationship isn't going well to entice us into unfaithfulness.

He will wait until loneliness and depression before he entices us with something that looks attractive to the lust of the eyes.

We have this desire to take control of things. To take things in our own hands.

We get the desire to lie instead of telling the truth because we want to control the situation.

We have that desire to envy because we want to have control of what we have. So we steal to get it.

We have this temptation to ask will God provide for my needs?

Satan will encourage this by saying worldly things such as "It's okay, no one has morals anymore", that doesn't apply to us. c'mon were in the 21st century now.

Like the Adam and Eve story: "Did God really say that? Surely you will not die but, you will be like God."

Satan temps Jesus by telling him to turn stones into bread but, see how Jesus responds:

"Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God"

He shut up Satan with that temptation from the Word of God.

APPLICATION

James tells us in the first verse of our text “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.

The Crown of Life is also mentioned in Revelation to the suffering Church at Smyrna.

This crown of life is none other than eternal life. It is the reward for all whose faith is in the crucified and risen Christ.

Does persevering under trials mean that we grind it out and will ourselves through it?

No. It means trusting Christ through the adversity and not striving in our own efforts but looking to the work of Christ on the cross.

James says the crown of life is something promised to us by God…for those who love him.

The more we love God through relationship the less we will have a desire to pursue things that will harm it and the easier it will be to resist temptation.