Temptation: Source, Subtlety, Solution

Temptation: Source, Subtlety, Solution

Tonight, I would like to look at the second half of James chapter 1. This book is filled with knowledge stacked upon knowledge of ways we can better our Christian walk and this section is no exception. Let’s just begin our reading at verse 13 down to the end of the chapter. (READ)

The book of James, I think, is one of the most, if not the most practical living books in the Bible. When I think I am doing well in my Christian walk all I have to do is read a portion of this book and there are many things that are revealed that I still need a lot of work on. No matter how many times I read this book, anything in the Bible in fact, the Holy Spirit specifically challenges me where I need it most!

In this section, James presents the Source of temptation, the Subtlety of temptation and the Solution to temptations.

Let’s look at these three aspects as they apply to Temptations.

I The Source of Temptations: (13-15)

Many who are familiar with the first half of this chapter know that God may (and probably will) put us through, or allow us to go through trials or hard times in our lives. Some people may have it harder than others. The interesting thing is that in James 1:3 (ESV) James tells us that this can actually make us more Christlike if we respond correctly.

3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces patience.

but when it comes to temptation God will not and in fact cannot tempt us.

So, God may send us trials, but He NEVER tempts us!

James 1:13 (ESV) 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.

If God is our Father, which He is if we are born again, He will

Keep us through temptations!

1 Corinthians 10:13 3 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to [a]bear it.

No good earthly father would deliberately seduce his child into sin, by trying to make him or her fall. However, every good father will deliberately allow his child to enter situations in life in which the child must make moral choices. We realize that sending a child to school or into the community, at the proper age, is good for a child because it matures him or her.

Similarly, a good schoolteacher will test his students to help them grow, but he would never tempt them to do evil.

Likewise, God helps us to grow up by allowing certain experiences (including temptations) to assail us, though He Himself only gives "good gifts" to His children which we will discuss later

Luke 11:13 (ESV) 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

How many times has God allowed you to experience a hardship of some sort that you have no idea why He is allowing you to go through that. But then years later you see the benefit in your life from that trial, where you may have been able to help someone else through a difficult point in their lives, or it helped you through another trial in your own life.

James 1:13 (ESV) 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.

All throughout human history people have been trying to justify their sins and short comings by putting the blame on someone else. That is literally the oldest trick in the book. Adam essentially blamed God for his sin, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

And Eve blamed the serpent for her sin, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Both of them essentially trying to say that ‘I am not responsible for my actions.’

More recently, after the second World War, Adolph Eichmann, a Nazi and a major organizer in the Holocaust, was put on trial for killing thousands of Jews and convicted of war crimes; his response when asked for a reason for his actions was, I was just taking orders from my superiors.

In my own life I can think of many times when I tried to put the blame on one of my siblings for something I did wrong. For example, taking cookies out of the freezer when I was not supposed to and blaming it on my brothers.

I could go on all night giving examples of people throughout history who did not take responsibility for their actions, even when they knew they have done something wrong, and instead, blame others.

God is not the author of temptation (vs 13) - Satan is, but we must be careful when we say that, often times too much credit is given to Satan for our temptations and sin, in a way almost using him as a sort of crutch or an excuse for our sins.

Verse 14 says, “but each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.” Rather than blaming God, we need to admit that we are responsible for when we yield to temptation, not God.

Now we come to this word desires I verse 14, or lust as otherwise translated. This word in the original Greek is used to describe good desires as well as bad.

But only 3 times is it used to describe good desires;

Luke 22:19 - Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;

Phil 1:23 – 23 [a]For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.

1 Thess. 2:17 - 17 But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored more eagerly to see your face with great desire.

Everywhere else where the Greek word is used it is in a negative sense;

Romans 6:12 - 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.

1 John 2:16 - For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.

Desires, in and of themselves, are not always bad. Jesus had a strong desire to eat the last Passover with his disciples, Paul had a strong desire to finally be with Christ, as we all should, and Paul again had a great desire to see the Thessalonians once again.

For example, I desire to one day become a police officer which is a heathy desire, I believe given to me by God, but I have to be careful not to let that desire take over my life and start leading me away from the one who gave me that desire.

Desires have been given to us by God, but it is the way that we distort them that gets us into trouble. For example, sexual desire is a natural thing given to us from God, but when that desire is acted upon outside of God’s will, in the context of marriage, it is evil, and that is where we can get ourselves into trouble with our desires.

Many people have a desire for money, which on the surface can be a healthy desire to provide for your family and to have financial stability. But when that desire takes over your life, you start neglecting God and the spiritual riches that He promises you.

When Satan tempted Eve in the Garden he said that she would become like God. Eve fell into the trap of lust, seeing that it was good for food, pleasant to the eyes and desirable to make one wise. Satan showed Eve the benefit it would give her flesh – pleasure, but did not tell her of the consequence of her decision.

Just as in Eve’s situation sin, "gets its power by persuading me to believe that I will be more happy if I follow it. The power of all temptation is the prospect that it will make me happier."

John 10:10 says, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill and to destroy.” Satan does not have our best interests in mind; his ultimate goal is to destroy our relationship with God by presenting us with sinful pleasures which destroy our Christian walk.

Not only does James present the source of temptation, he also shows us that temptation can be subtle.

II The Subtlety of Temptations: (16)

“Do not be deceived my beloved brethren.”

Temptations come in all shapes and sizes like something obviously like you teacher leaving the answer sheet to a test on her desk and you didn’t study enough for it, you know it’s wrong but you sneak a peek anyways.

Or as subtly as something coming up on the computer and you wonder what it is all about, and before you know it you are in something way over your head.

Temptations can come up on us so suddenly that we do not even realize it. Often times, with a temptation, there is some truth or something wholesome is presented with the temptation which conceals the true reality.

One of the largest freshwater turtles is the alligator snapping turtle. Found primarily in the southeastern United States, these massive turtles have been known to weigh close to 250 pounds. They are carnivorous, and while their diet is primarily fish, they have been known to eat almost anything else they can find in the water—even in a few cases small alligators! The alligator snapping turtle relies on a uniquely deceitful method of foraging for fish.

The turtle will lie completely still on the bottom of a lake or river with its mouth wide open. At the end of the turtle’s tongue is a small, pink, worm-shaped appendage. The turtle wiggles the end of its tongue so that it looks like a worm moving through the water. When a fish comes to eat the worm, the turtle’s jaws rapidly close, trapping the fish so that it cannot escape.

Similarly to the snapping turtle’s lure, temptation comes in the guise of something desirable, but it always carries destruction with it in the end. If we could see the end result rather than the tempting part, it would be far easier to resist. But Satan knows this, so he cleverly disguises what is deadly in the guise of something pleasurable.

So we must always be on the alert, for temptations and making sure that we are living for God, which is what James presents in the next couple of verses, the solution for Temptations.

III The Solution For Temptation: (17-25)

a) REALIZE That God’s Gifts Are ALWAYS Good (17-18)

Everything that God has given us is good and for our benefit,

James 1:17 (ESV) 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Some people may think that throughout their lives when they face issues or deal with difficult temptations that somehow God has changed, but James tells us here that God is unchangeable,

he will never change,

there is no variation or inconsistency in how or what God gives to us

2 Peter 1:3 (ESV) 3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to his own glory and excellence,

b) Avoiding Tongue Temptation (19-20)

Here James gives us a punch to the gut, at least for me anyways, this is something that every time I read it, I know I can continue to do better to grow, to put these two verses into better action.

“19 [c]So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

This seems very practical, something that no matter where we are in our Christian walk we can always work on. The scripture is full of verses telling us to be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to wrath.

Just to give you a few:

Proverbs 10:19 - In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is wise.

Proverbs 13:3 - He who guards his mouth preserves his life, But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction.

Proverbs 14:29 - He who is slow to wrath has great understanding, But he who is [a]impulsive exalts folly.

Proverbs 18:2 - A fool has no delight in understanding, But in expressing his own heart.

Proverbs 18:13 - He who answers a matter before he hears it, It is folly and shame to him

Proverbs 15:18 - A wrathful man stirs up strife, But he who is slow to anger allays contention.

- A hot-tempered person starts fights; a cool-tempered person stops them. (NLT)

These are just a hand full of verses from Proverbs, there are several more in Proverbs, let alone in the rest of the Bible.

This is a quote from Zeno of Citium who was the founder of Stoicism in the 3rd century B.C.; “The great talker is rarely a great listener, and never is the ear more firmly closed than when anger takes over.”

Zeno, who was not a Christian realized that when we get angry we cannot think straight and we react poorly. When we get angry we are not serving God, as it says in verse 20;

20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

we must be in control of our own actions and emotions and not let our emotions control us.

The best way that we can avoid giving in to those temptations of the tongue is by being slow to speak, quick to listen, especially listening to the Holy Spirit teaching us through the Word God.

Like we heard last Sunday evening, Samson was driven by his emotions - he did the things he did, because they felt good.

c) Abiding in the Vine (21)

Here in verse 21 we see a contrast, James tells us to get rid of something and to receive something.

First he tells us we must get rid of the filthiness in our lives, the things that do not correspond with the will of God, also to lay aside everything that remains in our lives from our old self, from the unredeemed world.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV) 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Then he tells us to “receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

James tells us here that we need to abide in the Vine. Just as a branch gets all its nutrition from the vine, we need to get our spiritual sustenance from our Vine, Jesus Christ.

John 15:7 - 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

The word implanted here is pointing to the fact that when we read God’s word we must allow it to nourish us so we can grow spiritually.

What do we do when we want a plant to grow? We give it good soil, water it and make sure it has lots of sun light. So too we must do by allowing the Word of God to sustain that growth in us, by meditating on it,

being immersed by it,

and doing our absolute best to do everything that it says.

But James does not just tell us to receive the word, he tells us to do it with meekness, to do it humbly, to be submissive to what God’s word says, respond correctly to it and to do what it says no matter how hard it may be;

2 Timothy 2:15 - Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

That is how we overcome temptation, by seeking to be approved by God. Paul admonished us in Eph. Chapter 6 to;

Ephesians 6:10-12 (ESV) 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

“be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might,” is what it means to abide in the Vine.

The fourth thing that James mentions on how to overcome temptations is to;

d) Be a doer not a hearer only (22-25)

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only.”

It is possible to be a faithful reader of God’s Word but to simply achieve nothing more than moving a bookmark is futile. It is not enough to only read it or to just hear it, there must be effort on our part to put it into action. James goes on here to use the well-known illustration of a man looking in a mirror;

James 1:23-24 (ESV) 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

If someone only hears the word and does not apply it, they are like a man who is on his way to a formal event, but before he leaves he looks in the mirror, that mirror will show him exactly what he looks like. His nice black suit, clean and freshly ironed pants, his shaggy messy beard and his uncombed hair. But then he shrugs his shoulders and is off to the event, completely forgetting that he looked like a mess.

When we read the Bible, what do we do with it? Do we read a chapter, close it, say something like “interesting” or “that was nice” and put it down and go right on living our lives no differently? Or are we taking the time to reflect on what God has to say to us, how God is telling us we need to grow and how we can grow?

The Word of God is like a mirror, it shows us what is out of place in our lives, what we are doing wrong, and the things we need to correct.

25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

Are there places that you go that you fall to temptations?

Avoid those places.

Are there situations that you put yourself in that make you more susceptible to fall to temptations?

Avoid putting yourself in those situations.

For example, if I was a person that struggled with gambling, why would I put myself in a situation where I know there will be gambling.

In this second half of the chapter, James gives us the solution to overcoming temptations. And my question to everyone here, myself included is,

Am I willing to perform the radical surgery needed to resist temptations, by cutting those things out my life, and become more like our Saviour Jesus Christ. Be more like Joseph, run, instead of being like Samson who did not.

We need to be serious about overcoming temptation if we are going to become more Christ like.