How to defeat temptation. Duncan Leake. James 1:12-18. 12Feb05
1. I was reading a sermon the other day that was given to me by a member of the church here. It was a sermon by a 19thC Baptist preacher… Charles Spurgeon. And one of the points that Spurgeon makes is that the devil is out to steal the joy of knowing Jesus from God’s people.
“He does not like to see God’s people happy. I believe the devil greatly delights in some ministers, whose tendency in preaching is to foster doubts and fears, and grief and despondency… “Ah,” said the devil, “preach on for you are doing my work well, for I like to see God’s people mournful…” I don’t want to make you mournful, or guilty or depressed or sad or discouraged by talking about temptation. I want you instead to remember something very positive…
Every temptation is an opportunity to do good.
We’ll come back to that later…
2. Hands up if you have a problem with temptation !!!!
It is good to see the one who are like Jesus.
(That is those who put their hands up!) The Bible says that JESUS had to deal with temptation. In fact in the letter to the Hebrews 4:15 it says that he (Jesus) faced all of the same temptations we do The Good news is in the rest of the verse …yet he did not sin.
Jesus defeated temptation… and so can we.
But we need to understand what temptation is.
3. If we don’t want to give in to it then it isn’t temptation. I can honestly say I have never been tempted to eat too many sprouts… because I don’t like them - but I have been tempted to eat too much chocolate – because I do! I have never been tempted to spend my time thinking about the pleasure of algebraic calculations… but I have been tempted to think about other things that I do find attractive. We are only ever tempted to do or think about, things that we want to do or think about.
As Rick Warren says… We think temptation lies around us, but God says it begins within us.
4. You may have heard of EBay.. the internet auction site. There is a page on the eBay site which states the philosophy on which eBay is founded.. it says this eBay is a community where we encourage open and honest communication between all of our members.
We believe in the following five basic values.
We believe people are basically good.
If by basically good eBay mean that people will nail the Son of God to a cross because they don’t like the look of his goodness… well then yes I suppose I could agree. One thing that we should not do is deceive ourselves - and it is clear that whatever basic goodness there is in human beings… it falls far short of the goodness that God intended to be seen in us.
Jesus said… For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, eagerness for lustful pleasure, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within… (Matthew 7:22-3
Temptation begins within us. That’s what the reading this morning said. Temptation comes from the lure of our own evil desires (James 1:12)
5. So First thing we need to do to defeat temptation is
to be honest about ourselves, about our own feelings and emotions, and desires. Because it is our own weaknesses and desires within us that the enemy will use to tempt us.
Which leads to the second thing we need to know… there is an enemy .
I remember a number of years ago I had been following a study course at the church we had recently moved to I had been going to church all my life, but I was very slow to understand what it is to live in friendship with Jesus, and this course was helping me to discover that. And one evening the vicar leading the course told us that he had found a most useful prayer to pray was … Clear off Satan.. I’m God’s property. It was only a week or so later that I found myself suddenly overwhelmed by all sorts of doubts and thoughts and feelings that just swept over me. It seemed I could believe nothing was true. Then I remembered what I had been taught:
Our enemy wants us to doubt the goodness of God.
Our enemy does not want us to trust and obey God.
Our enemy do not want us to enjoy a relationship with God.
And So I prayed… Clear off Satan, I’m God’s property. And he did. The Bible says “Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.” It is true. If we resist him.. he will flee. The problem is sometimes we choose not to resist him.
6. Jesus said that the devil is … a liar and the father of lies. (John 9:36) Sometimes we choose to believe his lies. You know the sort of thing…
And so a Christian who has been contemplating committing adultery says to himself…
“We feel it is right for us!” How can it be wrong to love someone. And then chooses to give in to the temptation. Or even more foolishly that person might choose to believe another of the devils favourite lies… “No one will ever Know.”
Or a Christian might be tempted to steal from an employer… “because everybody else does it.” So take stuff from work, bump up the expenses claim, or maybe simply steal time that you are being paid for, by wasting it chatting, and talking and not doing the job you are employed to do.
“Well, wasting time a bit… that’s not really wrong… the company don’t pay me enough anyway”
The devils lies deceive many who claim to be followers of Jesus. If you are a Christian you can’t base your conduct on the conduct of those you see around you.
If Jesus had copied the people of his time he would have never healed a leper, because he wouldn’t have gone anywhere near them. If Jesus had copied the people of his time he would have stoned an adulterous woman to death, instead of challenging the people who wanted to kill her to examine themselves. If Jesus had copied the people of his time he might have been a very religious person… but we would not have seen the love of God shining in him as it did.
Jesus was determined not to copy anyone… he was determined to live a life where loving, trusting, and obeying his heavenly father came first. And Christians today are called to copy Jesus… not to copy Eastenders, or some media personality… not even Cliff Richards.
We were created to be like Jesus. Like him in our love for our heavenly father, like him in our desire to live in relationship each day with the God who made us.
7. Be warned! … as the bible says…
Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour. 1 Peter 5:8
Don’t let him make a meal of you!
Satan wants to steal from you the joy of living in close friendship with God. Jesus called our enemy.. a thief… who comes only to steal and destroy. (John 10:10)
He wants to destroy your confidence and trust in the goodness of God. And he wants to make the church of Jesus ineffective and rob the church of spiritual power.
(move on to blank slide)
Christians may be tempted to stop attending church. What is more important the job on a Sunday morning or the need to meet with Christians. If you are forced to work on a Sunday then make sure that you have some other regular time to worship and pray with the rest of the body of Christ. If you don’t meet regularly with other Christians to worship and to pray and praise God and hear his word and be fed by it.. then at least be honest and admit that you have given in to the temptation to put something else before the worship of God.. and that remember is what you were made for.
Christians may be tempted to hurt other people - even within the church.. sometimes especially within the church. Tempted to judge, tempted to condemn… tempted to be too quick to give correction in an unloving and hurtful way. And by the way when we do that we are disobeying the very clear instructions that God has given to us about how we should treat one another. And Christians can be tempted to disobey God’s clear instructions about how to enjoy his good gift of sexual feelings.
Christians may even be tempted away from a close relationship with God by becoming involved in activities which on the face of it might seem to be good and worthwhile. Running this group, belonging to that group, organising this, doing that, giving to this cause here, that cause there. But St. Paul said … look I can give all my money away to the poor... but if I have not love…then it means nothing. The love he is talking about is the sort of love for God and for others that was seen in Jesus. We can do things that outwardly seem wonderful... but if our inward motive is pride, or some sort of need to win approval, and not simply love for God, then says Paul… it counts for nothing.
Our enemy must be satisfied when he sees that his work is being done by people who claim to be followers of Jesus. But It doesn’t have to be like that.
The Devil might know our weaknesses…
but God knows us better.
That’s what the bible says…
O LORD, you have examined my heart and know EVERYTHING about me. (Psalm 139:1)
So if we are tempted in a particular way…
God is not surprised.
God knows our needs, our vulnerability, our hurts. Everything within us that the Devil wants to use against us… God only wants to use to teach us and help us to grow in our relationship with him. When we are tempted he waits for us to turn to him and ask for his help to turn away from that temptation. And if we are tempted many many times in a day... do you think he will get tired of us turning to him and asking for his help? Of course not.
8 In the First letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul was writing to a Church that had been targeted by the enemy, and where the members of the church were facing many temptations to pride and anger, and sexual immorality and greed… he said…
….remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it. (1 Cor. 10:
That way out may be different for each one of us, but
It will quite likely that the way out will involve us knowing the truth of his word.. because that’s the way in which we know Jesus defeated temptation.
He trusted in the truth of God’s word.
It is quite likely that the way out will mean that you will need to ask God to give you a new awareness of the times and situations where you are most vulnerable… most likely to be tempted. And then you may need to ask him to help you not to put yourself into those situations.
And here is the amazing thing…
The way out will actually mean that something good comes out of that experience of being tempted. It happens like this. If we recognise temptation for what it is, then
we have the opportunity to behave in a way which is exactly the opposite of the way in which we are being tempted to behave.
And every time we resist temptation it makes us stronger in our relationship with God and helps us to become more like Jesus.
If you are in a situation where you are being tempted to behave in an unloving way towards someone... then you have an opportunity to do the opposite and show love in a practical way.
If you are tempted to lose your temper or sound off your opinions to someone… then there is an opportunity to do the opposite, to listen to speak words that will encourage and build up the other person rather then words which try to demonstrate your superior perception and intellect and so demolish and undermine the other person.
If you are feeling frustrated because someone is not doing what you want them to do quickly enough… then you have the opportunity to learn patience.
If you are tempted to be unfaithful… then that is an opportunity to discover the joy and delight of faithfulness.
Every temptation is an opportunity to do good.
So don’t feel guilty because you are tempted.
Jesus was and so will you be.
Temptations will come to us in different ways, at different times in our life. Some times we may be facing temptations all the time. Other times the temptations may be different, or fewer…
The important thing is how you respond to temptation.
And the only response that will ever defeat temptation is the response of turning towards God and wanting to be with him.
To finish… I would like you to imagine this scene…
A parent is walking through Cannock Chase with a young child. It’s a dad... with a little girl aged about four. It’s a Lovely morning, they hear the birds singing, the trees a fresh and green, it rained the night before and the air is crisp and cool and fragrant with the smells of growing things. It’s a good place to be. The two… parent and child, are having a really good conversation getting along quite well, it’s one of those special times in their relationship. As they are walking along a narrow path… the child goes just a little way ahead of the parent…. then because the child – a child - excited and happy … the child runs ahead. Maybe the child is twenty - thirty metres down the path. But the father can still see the child… and if the child turns around she can still see her father.
All of a sudden there is the sound of a big dog howling and barking, snarling. It is a terrifying sound that echoes through the trees.
And looking ahead on the path the child and the father can both see an outline… the shape of a great big dog coming towards them down the path they are walking on.
Now tell me... which way will the child run... towards the howling barking dog, or back towards his dad.
A small child will instinctively run back to be near to the parent for reassurance, security, for protection - just trusting that the parent will know what to do.
And that is what the child chose to do. The child when she saw the dog in the distance… ran back to her father who picked him up and held him safe.
And the dog… stopped barking, and howling, and turned around and went away.