Heart to Heart: How to fight temptation

James 1:12–18 NKJV

12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

I. Source of temptation

(1:13–14)

A. Uncontrolled emotions

ἐξελκόμενος- Carried away

This word presents the idea of being swept away as by the ocean waves. It is reminiscent of a slave being taken away against their desires.

Anyone who is unable to control their emotions and fleshly desires is in immediate danger of falling in to temptations.

Have you ever met someone who was an emotional time-bomb that could go off at anytime? The slightest agitations and they go nuclear? Or, maybe they are unable to so self-control. Dieting is impossible because they have no will-power. Now I will stop before someone throws something at me. However, the bible does warn in this passage against falling victim to our own desires.

Are you controlled by your flesh or does you control it?

B. Enticement

Luke 4:1–3 NKJV

1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. 3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

The second source of temptation is the enticement of others.

Who are you listening to?

What are you allowing to influence your life?

II. Steps in temptation

(1:15–16)

A. Conception

B. Birth

C. Maturity

III. Solution for temptation

(1:17–18)

A. Remember who we are.

1 Peter 1:22–25 NKJV

22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, 24 because “All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, 25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.

I remember as a young man going in to churches as we traveled and my dad would often tell me before we would go into church, “Son, remember who’s son you are.”

B. Remember who He is.

Luke 4:4 NKJV

4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”

C. Remember what we are.

We are His.

We are loved.

We are valued.

We are soldiers

We are conquerors.

We are joint heirs with Christ.