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This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on November 19 th 2023 by Navaz. For the audio & video please click here. For the worship please click here.
TEMPTATION - Why can't I say no?
James 1:12-21
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 person
is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and
enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it
gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
INTRODUCTION
I love spy,
detective, and medical dramas. What do they have in common? They both uncover
the truth that lies behind the mystery of a crime or a disease.
WHY DOES TEMPTATION COME?
You may be
wondering about this: why do I fall into the trap of temptation over and over
again? I turned away from my sinful past and gave my life to Jesus. I am a
Christ follower who is supposed to live a victorious life. Then why does this
happen?
We need to go back to the beginning. Was there absolute
freedom in the Garden? From God’s perspective, YES. The world and
the devil would like to tell us otherwise and therein lies the problem. This is
what the devil tempted the first couple with and that is to believe that they
were not truly free as long as they obeyed God and lived within the boundaries,
He gave them. Satan tempted them with independent thinking outside of God’s
instructions and got them to change their belief that God could be trusted and had
indeed given them true freedom. The boundary around the Tree of Knowledge of
Good and Evil was a boundary of love.
Thank God the story does not end there.
CHRIST SETS US FREE
God always had a plan of redemption; to set us free from this
trap once and for all. He sent His son Jesus who did not fall for the tree of
temptation rather he took all our sins on a tree by being crucified so that we
could know freedom. The cross sets us free from the penalty and the power of
sin. This is why Jesus’ resurrection is so pivotal to our faith. Just as sin could not control Jesus, so it is
powerless to control those who’ve been placed in Jesus by faith.
However, many believe that a magic wand is waved over our
heads when we are saved and
that is why they get disillusioned when we find those old habits still around.
We know that our old nature was crucified on the cross along
with Jesus. We were made
alive and new in Jesus. Our old self was not raised to life. We are Born again
– a new creation in
Christ. The old is gone! Yet we find this struggle in our hearts. While need to
realize that while we are new creations, and our desires are changing we still
need to deal with sinful habits.
What we know by faith we must act upon.
We need to
distinguish between temptation and sinful habits that we form because of
giving in to temptation repeatedly.
WHY DO I STILL GET TEMPTED?
Even as a Christ follower there are behaviours, sinful
habits lifestyles, and thought patterns that we need to work on. This
process is called sanctification. Our behaviour is influenced by how we think
which is influenced by what we believe.
I want to pause and ask a question. What are your core
beliefs?
WHERE DOES TEMPTATION COME FROM?
Firstly, understand that God does not tempt us nor
make us sin. (James 1:13). God may allow us to be exposed to temptation as
Jesus told us that in this world you will have many troubles.
FIVE ELEMENTS TO THE PATTERN OF TEMPTATION
James shows
us the structure so that we can slow down and examine what is happening in our
hearts. You must have seen this while watching cricket/football on TV. They do
a replay in slow motion to show you how the wicket was taken or how the goal
was scored. So, we are doing a slow motion to the process of temptation. This
will help us detect the presence of the evil one, resist, stand firm or flee.
1
ATTRACTION
We see things or experience things through our senses, and we are then lured by “our own evil desires” (James 1:14a) which lead us into
temptation. As one preacher put it so well, we need to see everything
through our ears!! This is true from the beginning of scripture. The devil
gets Eve to rely on what she sees rather than God’s word spoken to them.
David saw Bathsheba and the rest followed.
2.
DECEPTION
V16. Don’t be deceived.
Satan deceives us by blurring our vision. When we think and start to
rationalize our behaviour repeatedly and then the reasons we give ourselves become
truth rather than ‘THE TRUTH’.
3.
PREOCCUPATION
Each person is tempted when he is lured or enticed
by his own desire. What does enticement do? It draws you in. It is like
holding something so close to your eyes that you cannot see anything else
(tunnel vision) and it fills up your mind.
4.
CONCEPTION
This is the real clue to what James is thinking. Then
desire when it is conceived gives “birth to sin”. Sin begins in the thoughts
and emotions before we act upon it.
5.
ENTRAPMENT
Ironically the very freedom that you chased eludes
you. You become a prisoner of your sin and the consequences thereof. Sin
results in bondage to that sin.
HOW ARE WE SET FREE? DEBUGGING THE BRAIN
BELIEFS
We must get rid of old beliefs and thought patterns and
replace them with new ones. What do we replace them with? We replace them with
the truth found in the Bible. In John 8:31-32 we are told that we will
know the truth and the truth will set us free.
You might say that you read your Bible Day in and out, yet do
not experience freedom. Why? This knowing is not head knowledge. It is not
information. Information that challenges us to change our beliefs and
thoughts will lead to transformation.
Do not try it on your own because you will give up. We need
His empowering enabling Grace in our lives that comes by being immersed
in the Holy Spirit.
THOUGHTS
What you believe
about God, yourself, the world etc will affect how you think. Beliefs are like
the filter or lens through which we perceive life. If you believe you are
unloved it will be the filter through which you experience the world, and it
will colour your thoughts. The Bible tells us as a man thinks so he is. What
this means is that your thought life dictates how you live and respond to your
environment.
FEELINGS
What the mind is preoccupied with will preoccupy
the emotions. Feeling
can only respond to thoughts and through what lens we experience our world. If
my thoughts about a situation change my feelings will soon follow feelings are
very subjective, and we can control them by what we feed our minds on.
BEHAVIOUR
Our behaviour is a sum of what we believe, think, and
feel. The former three are the drivers of our behaviour. That is why it is so
important to renew our minds. James clearly shows this progression in his text.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THOUGHT PATTERNS I NEED TO BE SET FREE
FROM?
What I have seen is that the battle for freedom from wrong
beliefs which lead to wrong behaviour is one of the biggest battles, we face as
Christ followers.
Let us look at only 3 patterns or idols of the heart that become strongholds of thinking. An idol is
anything I over-desire and desire more than God.
LOOK GOOD
This is all about keeping
up appearances. You live life pretending to be someone else. This happens
when we do not live out of our identity in Christ. So, you lie, cheat,
deceive and create false impressions.
Because you want people’s approval you find it
difficult to say “NO” because you want the maintain the image of the ‘nice
guy’.
This idol will mask itself in good works. Also, because I
want to feel good about myself, I indulge in comparison and unhealthy
competition.
FEEL GOOD
We live in a very sensual world. You can make some harmful
lifestyle choices if everything is about making you feel good. You can’t
always feel good. God has given us a lot of emotions. God feels angry,
grieved, jealous, sad, happy, joyful etc. So, while we are NOT ruled by our emotions,
they are markers about how we are experiencing the world around us.
Our feelings are a response to our thoughts which are
dictated by our beliefs. If
we believe that all negative emotions are from the devil or an indication that we
do not have faith; the result will be that we deny those emotions and live with
unreality. I suppress my true feelings masking it with religious mumbo jumbo.
There is a place for the right confession. While we declare the truth, we do
not deny the fact. E.g.) I am sad that my daughter is unwell (FACT) but I know
God can and will heal her (TRUTH). I am sad I lost my job (FACT) but I know God
is my provider (TRUTH)
Feeling driven people don’t like to move out of their comfort
zone. Comfort and
pleasure are idols. The need to feel good can also result in self-medicating
addictive behaviours that give you that constant “high”. This is seen with overconsumption of social
media, movies, gaming, and porn.
BE RIGHT
This behaviour is fuelled by the belief that I need to be
perfect. Perfectionism drives what I do and how I relate with people.
It keeps me from being who I truly am because there is no place for weakness.
So, we need to be right at any cost. This leads to
lying, cover-up, deceitful behaviour, rationalizing our faults, blaming others,
and inability to take responsibility for our behaviour. Apologizing
and owing up is the hardest thing for them to do because their identity and
self-worth are attached to what they do and not to who they are in Christ.
All of us have elements of all 3 of these wrong belief
systems. But as we renew our
minds, we will get healthier and learn to walk in true freedom.
HOW DO I FIX THIS PROBLEM?
God has given us several
means of Grace viz His Word, His Grace and His people.
Knowing the word is critical
because it changes our thought patterns. People need to know that the Word does
its work through the Word. We are transformed by the renewing of the mind.
Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.
God’s Grace is always
sufficient. He will not allow us to be tempted more than we are able to resist.
His grace is empowering and gives us the strength to say no to sin and yes to
godly living. Titus tells us that the Grace of God that has appeared to all men
teaches us to say no to ungodliness. Those who call this legalism have not
understood grace.
Community – We are not
called to live in isolation but in community. There are so many ‘one-another’
verses in the New Testament. We are told to confess our sins one to another so
that we might experience healing.
We also need to change our appetites.
If you have eaten junk food all your life you will not know how good gourmet
food is till you have experienced it. We do enjoy our sin till we begin to
cultivate a new appetite and then the old sin will not be enjoyable anymore.
So it is quite simple. What we feed our minds with
will fuel our behaviour. Is it the world or the Word?
FROM REPENTANCE TO RENEWAL
What does renewing the mind look like?
Renewing involves removing and replacing.
Recognise –
First, we need to recognise or acknowledge the area of sin we are struggling
with. What beliefs have helped the sin stay in my life?
Repent- Realize
that your sin breaks the heart of God. Seek His forgiveness and decide to
change what you believe and do.
Replace – You
cannot leave that space in a vacuum. Replace your beliefs and thoughts with the
Word of God and find new patterns of behaviour or responses to situations. It
will take time and you might slip into old habits but don’t worry. A step each day
is 365 steps in a year! If you read
James carefully, he gives you the clue in v21. God speaks to us and saves us
through His Word. The Holy Spirit
may remind you of His word while you pray. In Ephesians we are told that we
attack every flaming dart of the evil one with the Sword of the Spirit, the
word of God. In Romans, we are told to renew our minds by soaking it in
the WORD.
Renew- When
you replace your beliefs and thoughts a renewed cycle of behaviour will be
easier to follow.
CONCLUSION
WHAT IS MY RESPONSE?
I respond by changing my beliefs by identifying the patterns.
Here are two samples of how you can track what you believe,
think, feel, and do. You can do this exercise for any temptation. Just ask the
Holy Spirit to shine His light into your heart.
Remember, we will never reach perfection on this
side of eternity, but we can get healthier. One day when Christ returns, or we
go to be with Him we will never have to fight temptation ever again. But till
then, fight the good fight of faith for God is also as work in you.
Be blessed in your journey of faith.
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