James 1:1-4 – Defeating Temptation – Bible study

James 1:1-4 Defeating Temptation Let me give you the bad new first. 1. You never out grow temptation. a. Temptation will be with you in one form or another all of your life. b. It is sad but true that the devils bag of wiles is deep. c. It is also true that he will never stop trying to trip you up. 2. However, you can even outgrow succumbing to temptation and you even outgrow the continuous struggle against it. Before we finish tonight, I would like to give you a formula that I believe will help you tremendously in doing just that; but first, we need to learn some things. Notice the first thing James said to do when you are tempted. I. \#James 1:2\ Count temptation a joy. A. Lets understand exactly what we are talking about. 1. Temptation is anything that seduces or lures you to do wrong, to sin. 2. It is an enticement to sin. 3. Everyone sins. a. However, for the Christian there is a difference. b. It should be the goal of the Christian NOT to sin. (1) The unsaved want to make a game of it or at least pretend there is nothing wrong with it. (2) When a Christian sins, there should be conviction and grief. B. The Bible tells us to rejoice when we are tempted. Why? 1. Not because it is all right to sin. 2. And not because God is tempting us so that we can receive some greater reward \#James 1:13\. 3. Then why? a. Because every temptation has a solution. 1Corinthians 10:13 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]. (1) There is a way to be victorious over this temptation. (2) It does not matter if you have fallen victim to this sin a hundred times before. (3) There is a victory and you can rejoice because this is the time that you are going to find it. b. \#3-4\ Because in every temptation, we can grow and learn how to be victorious. (1) The "trying" or "testing" of your faith WORKS. It is doing something in your life. (2) The end of the work is that you will be PERFECT, ENTIRE, LACKING NOTHING. (a) Every temptation must be approved by God. (b) Every temptation is part of Gods work in your life. (c) Does that mean the battle is going to be enjoyable or easy? (d) No, but it does mean God has a plan and that He is working in you RIGHT NOW. 4. When temptation comes, we might experience a full range of emotions, but joy is not usually one of them. a. Some feel guilty over the fact that they are being tempted. b. Some feel fear because they have fallen so many times before, c. Some feel weary when the battle has only just begun. 5. God says REJOICE because in the temptation you can learn and grow! II. There are some things we need to know before a temptation ever comes. A. We must know how to prepare. James helps us with this. 1. \#James 1:5\ Get wisdom. a. Wisdom is the ability to see as God sees. b. No one can be successful in the fight against sin without a dose of wisdom. c. Wisdom will help us in multiple ways. (1) Wisdom will give us the ability to see the end of our temptation. (a) There is sin and pain ahead if we yield. (b) But there is growth and joy ahead if we resist. (2) Wisdom will give us the ability to implement what we have learned. (a) I can preach and you can study about how to be victorious, but we all know there is more to being victorious than just having knowledge. (b) Having Gods wisdom will make us wise enough to use what we know. (3) Wisdom will give us the ability to keep the ground we have taken. (a) In this war against sin, we all know what it is to win a victory today only to loose the victory tomorrow. (b) With wisdom, we can win the victory and keep it. 2. \#James 1:6\ Use faith. a. We are told to ask for wisdom but to use our faith. b. Have you realized that God never tells us to ask for faith? (1) We are told to have faith; we are question about where our faith is; we are chided about what great works our faith can do; we are warned not to let faith fail; and we are commanded to continue in faith; but we are never told to ask for more. (2) Why? Because we already have all the faith we need. Luke 17:6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. (3) We do not need more. We just need to use what we have. c. The question is how do we use the faith we have. (1) Faith is believing that God is working in and through me. (2) We are not to be cowering in a corner some place, waiting for temptation to pull us under! (3) Rather we are to believe that God has allowed this temptation to come upon us for its defeat and our growth to a higher level. 3. \#James 1:8\ Be single minded. a. To be single minded about something is to be somewhat bull headed about something. b. There is one outcome to this temptationwe are going to win. c. Dont let Satan or self tell you anything else. d. Even if you stumbleget back up and get back at it. e. Stick to the course. (1) Keep asking for wisdom. (2) Keep using your faith. B. We must know our true danger. 1. \#James 1:14\ The temptation is not our greatest danger; our lust is. a. In that verse, James mentions both temptation and lust. (1) Temptation is an external trap. (2) Lust is our internal desire. b. When we have victory over our own desire, the trap poses no danger to us. 2. So when we are tempted, we are not facing just one problem but two. a. The lesser of the two is the thing that tempted us. b. Wisdom dictates that we must deal with that thing. c. But after dealing with the temptation, we must deal with the fact that we WANTED to do the wrong. d. Our LUST is more dangerous than the thing that tempted us. C. We must know how to overcome evil. 1. Lust come in 2 varieties. a. There is a good lust or bad lust. Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. b. Giving into the lust (the desire) of the flesh is bad. c. Giving into the lust (the desire) of the Spirit is good. 2. God gives us a simple formula for overcoming evil. Rom 12:21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. 3. Whatever the evil is that we are wanting to do, we are to find something as good to do instead. a. The more extreme the evil that is tempting you, the more extreme the good needs to be. b. Now if you cant think of a good thing to desire, you may have more problems than you think. (1) When I first started studying computer repair, I was reading where another fellow needed help. (2) One of our helps was telling him to try installing a certain questionable part on another computer to see if the part was bad or there was some other fault in the problem computer. (3) The other student replied that he did not have another computer. (4) The instructors reply was to suggest that he was in the wrong field of study. (5) His point was that it doesnt make much sense to select a career if you have never had interest enough to invest into it. c. If you are a Christian without godly desire, perhaps it is time to quit playing Christianity and get serious. (1) You must have loved ones who are lost. (2) You should be involved in some ministry for Christ for which you have a passion. (3) There should be some wrong that needs to be righted, some evil that needs to be ended, some injustice that needs to be set straight. d. Perhaps the reason you havent gotten victory over your temptation is because you have not gotten serious about your Christianity. (1) This is a spiritual war we are fighting. (2) Satan is manipulating the world and your flesh to make you do things that God and you dont want to do. (3) God is saying that you need to find something that is just as good as Satans evil is. (4) When Satan trots out his worst, we need to counter with Gods best. 4. Remember this formula. I will mention it again in a moment. III. There are some things we need to do to be victorious. A. We must do the things that we know are right! 1. You cant expect to win a war if you dont do the basics. a. Before the battle ever gets started, soldiers are trained; they are made familiar with their weapons; they practice with their equipment; then, when the battle starts, they do what they have been trained to do. b. Fighting a spiritual war is no different. 2 Corinthians 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) c. Too many Christians expect to have the power of miracles on their side when they have never learned how to pray, be faithful to church, or to read and study their Bible. d. Dont expect God to give you a tank if you cant shoot a pistol! 2. Then there are some who get discouraged and quit on God during days of temptation. a. A time of temptation is no time to be backing up on God. b. If we want victory, we need to do stay faithful to the things that we know to do. c. Things like praying, studying the Bible, attending churchare a given. d. Instead of backing up, if we want Gods help, we should start doing anything else that we know is right but with which we have been playing around. 3. It takes courage and faith to stand in the midst of a trial, but these are the disciplines that are required of a Christian who wants to be victorious. B. We must remove whatever temptations we can. Romans 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. 1. If you can pull up a land mine, pull it upGet rid of the things that tempting you. 2. Stay out of land mine fieldsStay out of places where the temptation occurs. 3. Dont fraternize with the enemyIf someone encourages you to do wrong, stay away from them. C. When drawn to a carnal desire, select a spiritual desire and excite it! Crave it, want it, desire it, work for it! 1. Here is where we use the formula that God has given us. Rom 12:21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. a. We need to create a greater spiritual LUST. b. We need to find something that is good and godly and give ourselves over to it. 2. This will help us in many ways. a. It will defeat the demons who tempt us. a. It will give us a wholesome alternative to our carnal desires. b. It will produce a spiritual satisfaction greater than your sinful satisfaction. No one is saying that over-coming temptation is easy. It is a spiritual battle with Satan pitting his power and your weakness against us, but we have God on our side! Greater is He that is in us than He that is in the world! Let us take to heart that we have the victory and go get it!