Temptation – James 1:13-15

1. Temptation – James 1:13-15
2. Not from God:
   1. He is beyond all possibility of evil.
   2. He does not tempt man to evil.
3. From us: (emphatic)   “Most people want to be delivered from temptation but would like to keep in touch.” — Robert Orbin
   1. Process:
      1. DRAWN ASIDE – A man is about his daily task when tempted to some evil and dwells upon it being drawn toward it
         1. He may resist at first, but finally gives in until it b/c his own lust.
         2. He disregards all warnings; he only desires a “closer look;” “what is it like”
      2. ENTICED – He is allured by the view.
      3. WILL CONSENTS – The man cannot know rest until his craving is satisfied.
      4. DEED IS PERFORMED – The evil craving b/c an evil act.
      5. END IS DEATH – The man’s lusts take him over until nothing is left of him but brute, beastly passions. (the spirit dies)
   2. In our members there is a slumbering inclination towards desire which is both sudden and fierce. With irresistible power desire seizes mastery over the flesh. All at once a secret, smoldering fire is kindled. The flesh burns and is in flames. It makes no difference whether it is sexual desire, or ambition, or vanity, or desire for revenge, or love of fame and power, or greed for money, or, finally, that strange desire for the beauty of the world, of nature. Joy in God is… extinguished in us and we seek all our joy in the creature. At this moment God is quite unreal to us, he loses all reality, and only desire for the creature is real; the only reality is the devil. Satan does not here fill us with hatred of God, but with forgetfulness of God. And now his falsehood is added to this proof of strength. The lust thus aroused envelopes the mind and will of man in deepest darkness. The powers of clear discrimination and of decision are taken from us. The questions present themselves: “Is what the flesh desires really sin in this case?” “Is it really not permitted to me, yes—expected of me, now, here, in my particular situation, to appease desire?” The tempter puts me in a privileged position as he tried to put the hungry Son of God in a privileged position. I boast of my privilege against God. It is here that everything within me rises up against the Word of God. — Bonhoeffer

In writing about America’s problems with our own national security, Jim Banford, author of The Puzzle Palace, said, “Once you’ve sold one secret you’re usually hooked. They don’t start by asking to get a top secret document. They usually ask for something innocuous, like a telephone directory. Once a person starts, they’re hooked at that point.” Isn’t that the way Satan operates? He tempts us to make little compromises that seem so insignificant and end up ensnaring us in sin.

Example – Jesus Christ

1. Hebrews 2:17-18 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
2. Joseph Mallord Turner, English painter, invited Charles Kingsley to his studio to see a picture of a storm at sea. In rapt admiration, Kingsley exclaimed, “It’s wonderful! It’s so realistic! How did you do it?” The artist replied, “I went to the coast of Holland and engaged a fisherman to take me out to sea in the next storm. Entering his boat as a storm was brewing, I asked him to bind me to the mast. Then he steered his boat into the teeth of the storm. “The storm raged with such fury that at times I longed to be in the bottom of the boat where the waves would blow over me. I could not, however. I was bound to the mast. Not only did I see the storm in its raging fury, I felt it! It blew into me, as it were, until I became a part of it. After this terrible ordeal, I returned to my studio and painted the picture.”
3. Hebrews 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Escape – I Corinthians 10:13

1. “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
2. Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.