4/19/20 – The Truth About Temptation

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
James 1:13-18 ESV

I. The Source Of Temptation
A. God is not to blame for temptation because God is all good all the time and incapable of enticing us to evil.

“To err is human and to blame it on the divine is even more human.”
–Unknown Poet

B. Satan may tempt us, but he is not to blame for our giving into temptation. Rather, our sinner’s nature is to blame for our being seduced by sin.

II. The Son of Temptation
A. Desire leads to temptation and temptation leads to sin and sin leads to death.
B. Sin is the grandson and son of temptation and death is the son of sin and grandson of temptation.

III. The Solution to Slay Temptation
A. Cling to the truth that we are responsible for the bad and God for the good in life.
B. Continue to believe the truth that God is not just good, but God’s goodness and goodness to us is unchanging, undeserved, and unending.

NEXT STEPS:
A. God is good, all good, all the time – and this same God is for you if you are in Christ.