Resisting in Temptation to Sin
Faith in Action -James • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
This session addresses the false idea that truth is subjective. When humans face temptation, they often easily give in to it, making light of their actions, claiming that the Devil made me do it," or even blaming God for tempting them in the first place. Such attitudes result from a refusal to acknowledge the truth: God holds us responsible for our actions. Regardless of our excuses, the truth remains that our sinful actions result from our own sinful desires. We can't blame anyone else for our own sins. But God is faithful to keep His promise that He will provide a way out of temptation when we turn to Him. We can trust God's unchanging nature because He is the source of truth.
Option I—Attraction Illustration
Gather
Gather
Magnets.
• Metal (steel) can or object
Steps
Steps
1 . Display two magnets and the metal can. Have each student attach and remove the magnets from the can to get a feel for the magnetic force between the two.
2 . Have the students stick and unstick the magnets from each other.
3. Discuss the difference between the two exercises.
ASK: Which was harder to do, taking the magnets off the can his or pulling them apart from each other? From each other he comes ASK: Why was that the case? Both magnets pulled toward each other and made the bond stronger.
4. Transition to the Bible lesson.
James wanted his readers to understand that temptation has a greater attraction than just the solicitation coming to them from the outside. Their own desires pull them toward sin. Successfully ts resisting temptation requires dealing with our inner response to the outside enticement. In this session, James helps us to recognize the it. nature and source of temptation so that we can better resist it.
I. Understanding Temptations to Sin
I. Understanding Temptations to Sin
A. God cannot tempt us
A. God cannot tempt us
In addition to the trials and hardships of life, James explained temptation to sin as a testing of faith.
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
Since many of James's readers were experiencing poverty, perhaps they were tempted into sinful desires for things they did not need, failing to trust God to provide for them. Under the circumstances, it would have been easy for them to blame God for having their desires unmet. Perhaps they had forgotten God promised to supply their needs rather than their desires.
No temptation to do evil comes from God. Two truths prove this point. First, God cannot be tempted by evil. Suggesting that God can commit evil denies His righteousness and holiness. The Bible is abundantly clear that God is holy, meaning perfectly righteous and without any sin.
Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy.
He is the Rock, his work is perfect: For all his ways are judgment: A God of truth and without iniquity, Just and right is he.
Second, God can't be the One who tempts us. To claim He is responsible for drawing us into sin is to be guilty of blasphemy, or profaning God's character. To blame God for sinful desires is to deny His sinlessness and to disgrace His character.
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
ASK: Why might we sometimes blame God when we are tempted to do evil? We don't want to take responsibility for our failure. We felt helpless to say no to the temptation.
B. We are tempted because we are sinners
B. We are tempted because we are sinners
1. We are enticed to sin
1. We are enticed to sin
James explained that the capacity for sinning indwells all believers. Believers partake of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1 :4) and are free from the penalty of sin, but every believer still possesses the old nature, or the flesh. The believer's old nature wants to give in to temptations to sin.
James didn't say it is a sin to be tempted, but he was concerned with the believer's response to temptation. He warned his readers about the development of sin, from the moment of temptation to the sinful action.
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
James said we are tempted when we are drawn away. The word he chose means "to be lured out of a hiding place." It reminds us of a hunter luring game out of its shelter with attractive smells of food or the imitation of a mating call. The word also suggests a fisherman luring his prey with bait. Whatever the hunter or fisherman uses, the unsuspecting prey emerges only to be captured, shot, or hooked.
ASK: How are hunting and fishing methods like temptations to sin? Hunting methods and fishing bait promise something that is desirable to the prey. Sin and evil are also presented as desirable. They are designed to get our attention and draw us to them.
Outside sources of temptation include the world and the Devil. Both enemies seek to lead us astray by appealing to us with empty promises. When Satan tempted Eve (Gen. 3:1-6), he focused on what God had prohibited rather than on all He had permitted. Satan presented Eve with a seemingly better option than following God.
Like Satan, the world seeks to drive a wedge between us and the Heavenly Father. It promises to give us what God has withheld from us The world promises satisfaction for indulging in sin but delivers only emptiness, dissatisfaction, and regret.
ASK: How should we respond to knowing the root problem of sin lies within us? We must take responsibility for our sins; overcoming temptation requires heart change; we need God's help to say "no to sin.
2. We are entrapped in sin
2. We are entrapped in sin
When a believer entertains the temptation to sin and becomes a willing partner, that person then becomes entrapped. Next follows an unwanted “conception” in the spiritual realm. James used a physical conception to illustrate the spiritual problem.
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
When a couple find the woman is pregnant after their promiscuous behavior, they realize their entrapment. Just as lust might result in a physical conception and birth, spiritual unfaithfulness results in the conception and birth of sin. The believer who entertains temptation soon discovers that his or her flirting with sin has given way to imagining the actual sin. And the imagined sin is on its way to becoming reality. The path from innocence to involvement is a slippery slope.
ASK: What is the role of a person's thought life in the progression of temptation? Most sins are premeditated. We think about the sin's attractiveness and even imagine ourselves committing the sin. We create excuses to justify the action to ourselves. Once we have engaged the mind, we are on the precipice of acting out the sin.
3. We suffer the results of sin
3. We suffer the results of sin
From conception to birth to full growth, James tracked the progression of the believer's compromise.
ASK: How might we track the progression of a common temptation for teens? What might happen along the slippery slope? (Choose other common temptations as appropriate for your class.) Example: 1. A student realizes he or she did not study enough for a test. Cheating offers a false promise of success. 2. Before class, the student hides notes in a pocket. He thinks, "No one will see me. I'll only look at a few answers. " 3. During the test, he sneaks the notes from his pocket.
Notice the result of this final action: sin brings death when it is finished Here, death can mean a spiritual separation from God while on earth. Though the believer can't lose his salvation, it's possible to live alienated from God because of unconfessed sin.
Another interpretation supported by Scripture suggests believers may be judged with physical death because of willful sin. Paul challenged the Corinthian believers to proper behavior at the Lord's Table after some had died for their disobedience (1 Cor. 1 1 :29, 30).
James's reference to sin that is finished, or fully grown, means sin that is fully realized. Whether it is an act or a sinful lifestyle, God doesn't take lightly the believer's persistence in willful sin.
Though James used a physical metaphor, he was not warning exclusively against bodily sin. He was challenging believers' casual an attitudes toward temptation. They had been following their passionate desires for something God hadn't provided. James wanted his readers to understand sin has serious and regrettable consequences.
ASK: How might believers today casually treat temptation to sin? In the shows or movies they choose to watch; in the thoughts they entertain; in the words they use and conversations they engage in. Although James sternly cautioned his readers, he did not leave them without an encouraging reminder of God's goodness.
II. Understanding True Goodness
II. Understanding True Goodness
A. God offers us gifts
A. God offers us gifts
Do not err, my beloved brethren.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
James gave a final warning not to make the serious mistake of being have deceived by temptation then led away to sin. Falling for the temptation sin. isn't just giving in to an empty promise. It's also ignoring and ultimately betraying one's relationship with the Heavenly Father. To be charmed by the empty, false promises of the world is to ignore the genuine, eternal promises of God.
ASK: What might the world say about what God has to offer you? That living for God is dull, no fun, or a waste of time.
1. God's gifts are good
1. God's gifts are good
James contrasted our sinful temptations with God and His gifts. He first described God's gifts as "good," signifying an inherent quality of at substance. God's truly good gifts are superior to what the world offers. They add meaning and purpose to life, as opposed to the meaningless gifts offered by the world. God's gifts reflect and correspond to God's good nature.
2. God's gifts are perfect
2. God's gifts are perfect
Not only are the gifts God promises to give His children inherently good, but they are also perfect or complete. Superior both in quality and nay quantity to what the world offers, God's gifts lack nothing.
ASK: How should the fact that every good and perfect gift comes from God strengthen our resolve against temptation? All good things, without exception, come from God. Nothing good comes from giving in to temptation; the things that tempt us cannot be good for us.
3. God's gifts are heavenly
3. God's gifts are heavenly
Finally, James explained how all these good and perfect gifts are heavenly rather than earthly. They are given by the " Father of Lights" rather than promised by the "Prince of Darkness. " The lights refer to the heavenly bodies (the sun, moon, and stars), emphasizing the idea that the good gifts we receive are from God, the Creator.
ASK: What does God's title of creator imply about God's ability to provide good gifts? His ability to provide is unlimited.
James described the Giver as One Who does not vary His nature. He contrasted God's nature with changes we see from daylight to darkens and shadows shifting in the sunlight. God is reliable. We can trust Him to act according to His character, which never changes. The One in Whom "is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5) meets believers' needs.
B. God's motives for offering gifts
B. God's motives for offering gifts
God's motives for giving gifts stand in stark contrast to Satan's motives for offering counterfeits.
ASK: What might be Satan's motive in tempting believers? Satan wants to rob believers of their testimony. He is never interested in helping or satisfying a believer.
ASK: What would you say are God's motives in offering His good, perfect, and heavenly gifts?
God's motives are to bless a believer and to see him or her grow to be like Christ. God's motives are always right. We can rest assured that His gifts are the best for us.
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Perhaps the best gift from the " Father of lights" is His adoption of believers into His family. God willingly makes them His children and becomes the Father of all believers. James compared those early Christians to the first fruits of a harvest. They were the first of many believers to come, which includes us. As our Father, God wants to give generously to us as He meets our needs. James's words remind us of Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
ASK: If you think of God as your loving heavenly Father who gives "good" gifts, how should that impact your response to temptation? Our relationship to God as our loving, generous Father should keep t be us from giving into temptation because God is vitally interested in us. He is the One Who has our best interest at heart, not the world or the Devil.
Our Heavenly Father both knows our needs even before we ask and promises to meet them. The believer has no reason to be lured by the false promises of the world or to be deceived into forfeiting God's blessing. From God we receive wholesome gifts characterized by light and life; from the world we receive empty promises related to darkness and death. James warned not to be deceived but, by faith, to resist the temptations of this world.