Tackling Temptation Before It Tackles You
James 1:13-18
If you have a teenage son or a teenage daughter, then no doubt you have some rules about dating. This is a true story from a conversation I had last week. You decide which parent’s rule most closely matches your own. The parent of a teenage girl allows her daughter’s boyfriend to be in the house when only the two of them are alone. The mom has even encouraged the boyfriend to spend the night, albeit when everyone is at home. As you might imagine, the parent of the teenage son doesn’t think that two teenagers alone in a house is very wise decision. The mom is afraid that they could allow their hormones to run out of control and get into trouble. The odd thing about this story is that the girl’s family are Christians and the boy’s family is not. So in this case the Christian family has much less strict rules than the non-Christian family. But here is the clincher. The Christian mom justified her liberal policy when she said, "It’s OK, I know my daughter has very high moral standards."
Can you see what the real problem is here? It’s not that the Christian mother has poor standards because she just doesn’t care. She has poor standards because she has goofy thinking. Just because her daughter has high moral standards does not mean she cannot fall into sexual sin. A standard or a rule does not have the power to prevent someone from sinning. Isn’t this so clear from the apostle Paul’s teaching? Paul said, "For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering." The Law shows us our sin, but it is powerless to help us overcome our sin. This young girl’s high moral standards identify the boundaries of her sin, but her standards are powerless to keep her from sinning—especially when her own mother puts her into sexually charged situations. The sad thing about this story is that the Christian woman has far less common sense than the non-Christian.
We may tend to laugh and scoff at this clueless mother, but believe it or not, we do the same thing. Hopefully most parents in this room actively strive to instill good character and Biblical standards in their children. But teaching children about character and Biblical standards is not sufficient. Some parents understand this so they don’t merely teach them what good character looks like, but they give them the moral reasoning behind doing the right thing. We know that children, like all people, cannot be forced to conform to an outward standard, but that they must internalize this standard and begin to want to do the right thing. How are we doing so far—would you not agree that this is what good parenting is all about: teaching children to internalize Biblical character qualities so that their hearts will want to do the right thing? Many parenting books and seminars are filled with this same parenting philosophy. But you know what—it still falls short.
Parents, let me ask you a question. Are there standards in your life that you know are true and right—you sincerely desire to follow these standards from the bottom of your heart, but you still struggle with meeting this standard. Have any of you ever internalized a Biblical command and then still repeatedly violated that very command? Of course we have, then why would we think we have done our job if we teach our children to internalize Biblical standards? We are no better off than this Christian mom who is letting her daughter walk into a danger zone. What I am saying is true for any person—young or old. It’s not enough to know the commands—it’s not enough to want to obey the commands. We need to know how to obey God and how to avoid sin. Temptations are with us every moment of every day. Therefore we need to learn how to tackle temptations before they tackle us and take us captive.
13?
When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; ?14? but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. ?15? Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. 16? Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. ?17? Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. ?18? He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.A. Why we sin (13-15)
Ultimately we need to know how to stop sinning, but first we need to know why we sin. The first principle is that every trial is a temptation in disguise. In the original language, the word for trial is the exact same as the word for temptation. If they are exactly the same, then how do we tell the difference? The context usually helps decide how to interpret a given word and verse 13 seems to make an abrupt change from a context of trials to a context of temptation. There is indeed a difference between a trial and a temptation, but they are also much more similar than we may realize. Every trial is an opportunity to choose the way of wisdom or choose the way of the world. Therefore, every trial is actually a temptation in disguise. When you go through difficult times, even the smallest of conflicts or troubles, is an opportunity to choose good or to choose evil. This is why we sin—as James said we constantly face many kinds of trials and temptations lurk behind every trial.
The second principle is to never blame God for tempting you. It could not have been said any clearer than in v. 13,
13? When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." Blaming God for your troubles is all the rage today. "If God loved me he would never have let this happen to me!" Some counselors and pastors even advocate the need to forgive God. If someone ever suggests that you should forgive God, run from that false teaching as fast as possible. We sin against God, he cannot sin against us. Sin is so far from his character that James said, For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. There is not the slightest hint of sin in God. God hates sin with a perfect hatred, so why would he ever tempt one of his children to sin? It is not possible.God cannot tempt us, but can he test us? Several passages would seem to indicate so.
Gen. 22:1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied.
Ex. 16:4 Then the Lord said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.
Ex. 20:20 Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning."
Dt. 8:2 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.
Jud. 2:22 I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their forefathers did."
Ps. 66:10 For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver.
Prov. 17:3 The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart.
Isa. 48:10 See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
It seems obvious that God can test us, but he cannot tempt us—but what really is the difference then? The next principle will help us out.
Temptation comes from your inner desires. Look at v. 14,
but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. According to this verse, where does temptation come from? It comes from within us—from our own evil desires. This is very different from the way we normally think about temptation. Don’t we always assume that temptation comes from outside of ourselves? But James is saying that temptation is not something external to us, but it comes from our internal desires. We are dragged away and enticed. This should appeal to you outdoors type people, because these two words are fishing and hunting words. To be dragged away would be better translated to be lured—like a fish is lured to the bait at the end of a fishing pole. To be enticed means to be led to a trap by a tasty morsel of food.For you experienced fisherman out there, would you consider it a successful fishing trip if you caught 23 fish in 3 hours? This is how many fish we caught on our vacation a few weeks ago. I spent most of my time baiting hooks and releasing fish because the moment you threw a worm into this pond the fish would bite at it. Now let me ask you—did the worm lure and entice the fish? That would be the way we normally understand temptation. In that sense I tempted the fish to eat the worm and get a hook in its mouth. But in reality I did not tempt the fish—the desire for the worm arose from within the fish. If the fish did not have this internal desire to eat worms, then no matter how many worms I tempted them with, they would never have taken the bait.
This is the way sin and temptation works in all of us. We all have an internal desire to sin. We are lured and enticed by our internal, evil desires. All sin arises from within us. Now principle four on your outline is also true: Circumstances come from without. This is the way I understand how sin works. Evil desires, which is the same thing as temptation, come from within us. I liken this to leaking gas—even as Christians our sinful desires flow out of us like leaking, high flammable propane from a stove. When we encounter particular circumstances, these are like a spark to our leaking gas and it explodes in the form of sin. Now why did I sin—did the circumstances make me sin? No, the desire to sin came from within me. If I did not desire to sin, then the circumstance would not have sparked me to sin.
I hope you see what this means in
the real world. This understanding of sin means no one or no thing can make me
sin. Do you believe that? If all sin arises from within me, then we cannot blame
other people or outside circumstances for our sin. Here is a picture of an
ancient monastery in Ireland. If I could live my life on this remote island,
surely I would be free of all temptations and would hardly sin at all, right? I
wouldn’t have to worry about temptations from TV or movies, no women would be
present to tempt me. Money and possessions would not be a source of temptations.
This would be heaven on earth—right? Wrong. Monks who retreated to such places
still struggled with sin—just as you and I would in such a place—because
temptations and desires still bubbled out from their soul like leaking gas from
a propane stove.
Sin arises from within me—no one can make me sin. This is why the soldiers who abused Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib don’t have a defense. It is accepted military policy that even a commanding officer cannot command you to do something illegal. War criminals from Nazi Germany were convicted even though they were commanded to commit murder. No one can make me sin. My wife can’t make me sin—my children can’t make me sin. Even Satan cannot make me sin. We must be clear on this—if we cannot understand why we sin, we will never be able to have increasing victory over our sin.
Let me give you a few examples from this chart. If you have grumpiness and anger inherent in your sinful desires, this is your personal source of temptation. If circumstances are such that you get very tired, this can be the spark to ignite your sinful passions which will lead you to sin. If you have lust in your heart then a circumstance that is sexually stimulating can ignite your passions and lead you to sin. If you are a worrier understand that this arises from your sinful passions. A situation such as a financial setback will spark additional worry, fear and anxiety, all of which are sinful. Are you beginning to see how this works? It is absolutely vital that we own up to the source of all sin—it arises from within us.
Let me give you a good example from the book of Proverbs. Please turn to proverbs 7.
My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you.
2
? Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.3
? Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.4
? Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," and call understanding your kinsman;5
? they will keep you from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words.6
? At the window of my house I looked out through the lattice.7
? I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who lacked judgment.8
? He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house9
? at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in.This young man is about to make a big mistake, but tell me—what is the source of his temptation here? The source of evil desire is coming from within the young man himself. He knows where sin can be found and he is seeking it out. He is a leaking fuel tank in search of spark. Once he finds it he will explode with sin. Let’s keep reading.
10?
Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent.11
? (She is loud and defiant, her feet never stay at home;12
? now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks.)13
? She took hold of him and kissed him and with a brazen face she said:14
? "I have fellowship offerings0 at home; today I fulfilled my vows.15
? So I came out to meet you; I looked for you and have found you!16
? I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt.17
? I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.18
? Come, let’s drink deep of love till morning; let’s enjoy ourselves with love!19
? My husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey.20
? He took his purse filled with money and will not be home till full moon."21
? With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk.This woman is the particular circumstance—the spark if you will, which is about to ignite this man’s internal passions. The woman is not making him sin. If he did not have the sinful desires overflowing from his heart in the first place, there is no way he could ever meet this woman on the dark street corner. She is the spark for his sin, but not the source of his sin.
22?
All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose0c?23
? till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life.There it is—the spark was ignited and the sinful explosion quickly followed.
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? Now then, my sons, listen to me; pay attention to what I say.25
? Do not let your heart turn to her ways or stray into her paths.26
? Many are the victims she has brought down; her slain are a mighty throng.27
? Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death.There the proverb ends, exactly as James describes it in v. 15, Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
A friend of ours was working on his water heater a few years ago. His wife happened to be walking down the basement stairs just as her husband attempted to light the pilot light. In an instant the basement floor was flooded with flames and just as quickly the fire extinguished itself—but not before both the husband and wife received 3rd degree burns on parts of their arms and legs. This is the way sin operates in each of our lives. Every moment of every day of our lives each of us is continually leaking highly flammable gas in the form of sinful desires. Of course we all experience many kinds of trials that serve to ignite our passions and lead us to sin—sometimes very explosive types of sin.
Is there any hope in our struggle against sin? The Bible holds out tremendous hope for our increasing victory over sin. One of two things needs to happen—either we reduce the evil desires within us, or else we reduce the potentially harmful circumstances around us. As we will see next week, we need to do both of these things.
We have been praying for Aaron Stalsberg’s brother-in-law who came incredibly close to death. Thankfully he seems to be on the road to recovery. It turned out that Kelly’s near fatal problem was diagnosed as a one in a million adverse reaction to an antibiotic he was taking. Ultimately the family believes prayer and divine intervention were responsible for saving his life, but from a medical perspective, what Kelly has desperately needed was an accurate diagnosis. What I have given you this morning from the book of James is an accurate diagnosis for all of your problems. Our own sinful desires are the source of about half of our problems, and the sinful desires of all other people are the other half of our probems. But I have hope. I need to tell you that as being a pastor for ten years and a Christian for 24 years, I have never in my life had so much hope in our ability to overcome sin
Rich Maurer
June 27, 2004