Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20240904 - Hook Line & Sinker: Four Things to Know About Temptation - James 1:13-27

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#20240904 - Hook Line & Sinker: Four Things to Know About Temptation - James 1:13-27 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word recorded live at Calvary
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Church in Aurora, Co. To learn more about the many
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resources available through Abounding Grace Media or to tune
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into our live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co
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dot Church or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Now let's open our Bibles and study God's Word.
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James Chapter 1 Again, if you're taking notes today, the title of
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the message is Hook, Line and Sinker.
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Coming from a guy that's not a a big fisherman myself, my father
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in It's kind of a little bit
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embarrassing because I catch nothing, As a matter of fact, my
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son. Josiah, our oldest.
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Went fishing the other day and he sent us a picture and I was
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like, oh, this is going to be great.
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His fish was literally this big. He was out there for hours and
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he caught a fish that big. So, you know, again, the fishing
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side doesn't come from me. It comes more on my wife's side.
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But I like that title because we're going to see what that has
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to do with this part of James here.
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And then there's kind of a. Sub.
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Title here, 4 things to know about temptation.
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So again, hook, line and sinker, 4 things to know about
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temptation. If you were here last week,
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you'll remember that the author of this letter, James, is the
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brother of Jesus himself. Amazing to think about that.
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He grew up with his Big Brother. He knew Jesus's temperament.
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He knew what Jesus was like in ways that many of the authors
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didn't know. James saw what Jesus thought of
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religious hypocrisy. He knew what Jesus thought of
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believers living in compromise. And so he writes of these things
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in this letter. No.
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Doubt a lot of what we're. Reading in James, he is
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thinking. Of his brother as he's writing.
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These things down he's thinking of.
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Jesus, he starts the letter by saying that it's his Lord.
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I love that. And it's his Messiah, Jesus the
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Christ. This letter that he writes is
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very much like the New Testament version of the Book of Proverbs
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in the sense that as you've read through, it's super practical,
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so helpful. As a Christian to just get
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thought after thought. Point after point on to the next
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topic it. Just kind of.
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Moves very easily through and it's helpful.
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It's stuff that's really good for us.
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There's over 50 imperatives. Those are command verbs that are
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in the book of James. So it's important for us to take
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note what the Holy Spirit would say.
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Martin Luther, as a matter of fact, saw all of these these
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commands in here and felt. That the book of.
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James was too legalistic and shouldn't be included in the
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scripture. That was a position that he
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took. But thankfully, when the
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scriptures were collected, James was included.
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It was tested along all the other books and shown to be
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authentic and inspired by the Word of God.
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So there's a lot in here for us to take note of.
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And the theme of James again is Christian maturity.
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And so I'll be the first to say there's still a lot left in me
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that is not yet like Jesus. And I think I just heard my wife
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say Amen to that. And, and maturity is something
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that I we're all growing in together, Are we?
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We haven't arrived yet. We're still a work in progress.
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But James wants to speak about growth in the Christian life.
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He wants to speak about what it is to learn to walk in truth so
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that we can then run our race as a Christian.
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And as we are growing older in life, we should also be growing
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up. We should also be maturing in
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our walk with Jesus. So last week, as we started
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James chapter one, we looked at trials.
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Tonight we're going to look at a different kind of trial that we
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as Christians are called to. And this is the trial or the
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test of moral endurance when you are tempted, temptation and
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James Segways from trials into temptation here in verse 13.
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And another way we could say this is that trials trigger
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temptation, trials trigger temptation.
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And both of these, by the way, trials and temptations, they are
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both used by God to help us grow up into maturity.
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So it's important to note, however, sometimes these words,
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depending on the translation that you use, are used
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interchangeably. But there's a difference between
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trials and temptations. So a trial is to prove or to
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test something. So it it has the purpose of
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strengthening your faith. Again, we talked about that last
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week. That's why God allows us to go
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through trials. Temptation, on the other hand,
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has the purpose to lure or to entice you to sin with the
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purpose of weakening your faith. So trials are to strengthen your
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faith. Temptation is to weaken or
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damage or destroy your faith. So trials as we're going to.
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See tonight come from without, and they are allowed by God in
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our lives. Temptation, however, James tells
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us, comes from within, within us, and they're never from God.
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Temptations never come from God. Trials are meant to be endured,
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and temptations are meant to be refused.
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But as we're going to see tonight, we can have victory
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over temptation in our life. And the reason is because if
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you're here tonight and you're a believer, God's Word tells you
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you have the spirit of the living God living inside of you
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tonight. That you have Jesus Christ who
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has made his home in you. He's made his abode in you.
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And so he gives you every resource that you need to grow
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in your faith, to walk in maturity so that there's no
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excuse not to. It's not like Jesus is saying,
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hey, I want you to mature. Here's the things I want you to
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do, but I'm going to leave you to handle it on your own.
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Now he is inside of you and someone wants to.
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The Christian life would be impossible unless he does it
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through us and he's willing and and wanting to.
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We just have to surrender. Our will to His will so for us.
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Tonight, 4 things to know about temptation if you're taking
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notes. Our first point tonight
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temptation is always present. Temptation is always present If
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we begin here in verse 13 starts here by saying let no one say
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when he is tempted. Notice, by the way, it doesn't
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say if he is tempted right? The thought from the previous
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verse and the previous verses is this you?
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You will find yourself in a difficult circumstance.
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You'll find yourself in a trial and a long will come temptation.
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And that temptation will be there to want you to quit when
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things get hard. You'll be tempted to want to
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question God's love when things get hard or to say something in
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the heat of the moment that you know you're going to regret
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later. And James talks a lot about that
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when it comes to the words that we use the tongue or to take the
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easy way out, even if it means compromise.
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And the reality is we shouldn't go there, but we all do.
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We all do, and temptation is always going to be present in
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our lives forever. By the way, until heaven, for
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the rest of life, on this side of eternity, temptation is
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always present. So if you want to, you could put
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it on your schedule. You can pull out your phone,
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pull up your calendar, go to tomorrow's date and type in
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there. I will be tempted today.
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And it's going to happen. To you.
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And it will often be temptation in the midst.
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Of your trials. In the midst of these difficult
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things that God is wanting to produce in you, endurance
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through. So that's our first point.
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Temptation's always present. Second point here, God never
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prompts temptation. God never prompts temptation.
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Again, verse 13 says this. Let no one say when he is
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tempted. I am tempted by God, for God
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himself cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt
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anyone. The word tempt here means a
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solicitation to evil, a solicitation to evil.
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So what we've done here now is we moved in, James, from
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external circumstances and difficulties, the trials in our
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lives that are from without us, to this internal solicitation to
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do evil and the solicitation to do evil.
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This temptation here, James tells us it's not from God.
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God doesn't tempt any of us here.
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He would never solicit us to evil when he himself is not
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evil. So the question then is, when
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you're tempted, who's to blame for it?
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Who's to blame for it? We love to blame everyone else
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but ourselves. Don't we?
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The devil is the one that made me do.
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It that devil, right? Once again, he got me or my
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friends made me do it, or she made me do it.
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He made me do it and and we'll Even so far as go so far as to
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blame God when we're tempted sometimes.
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If you didn't want me to do it God, then why did you make me
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this way? Or why won't you?
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Take away this desire if you would just.
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Take it away, then I wouldn't have to worry about it.
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Or how about this one? If you would have just given me
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a different life, God, if you would have given me a different
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husband or a different wife, then things would be different
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and I wouldn't feel this. Way.
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Or if you're here tonight, you're a single person.
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If you would just give me a husband or if you would just
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give me a wife, I wouldn't be tempted then in the way that I
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am. So whether or not we would
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always say it in those words, often times those are exactly
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the kinds of thoughts we think. But we see this even at the
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beginning of history, Genesis chapter 3.
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We're familiar with this. Adam, where are you?
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And Adam responds me. God it was.
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You and me and the animals and we were in paradise.
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Everything was great. There were no problems.
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And then what does Adam say at Genesis 312?
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But the woman you put here with me, she gave me some fruit to
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eat from the tree. And that's.
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Why I ate it? So Adam's saying you wouldn't
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have given me the fruit, God, I know that.
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And I wouldn't have taken that fruit to myself.
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But the woman you made gave it to me.
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And that's. Why I ate it?
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Someone once said it this way. To err is human, but to blame it
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on the divine is even more human.
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It's even more human because God would never approve of sin.
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That's one of the greatest lies I think that we fall for is that
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in some way it's OK. Like God's giving us that little
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bit of a wink, like it's no big deal, you're good.
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But God would never approve of sin, nor would He ever.
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Lead you into a place of temptation to sin.
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Never. God never has tempted us to sin.
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God never will tempt us to sin. And we know this because again
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here in verse 13, God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he
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tempt anyone. The idea is with evil, God
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cannot be tempted literally there.
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And the Greek is he is unable to be tempted.
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He's unable to be tempted because evil doesn't.
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Tug at the heart of God the way that it does.
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For you and me. And James is making the point
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here that because God is unable to be tempted, he will never
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tempt anyone else to sin. Now you might be thinking, well,
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Jesus was tempted and Jesus even said in what's been known as the
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Lord's Prayer, he would say, lead us not into temptation,
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remember that, but deliver us from evil.
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So what is Jesus saying? Well, he's he's not saying that
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God himself leads us into temptation because if he was
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saying that, then James would be wrong here.
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But what he is saying is, don't allow us to come under the sway
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of temptation that will overpower us and cause us to
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sin. It's the idea so.
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Another way of saying that is Lord, keep us from temptation.
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Keep us from it. So again, if temptation doesn't
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come from God, then where does it come from?
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Well, again, we can blame the devil.
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And it is true. Satan is busy tempting
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believers. Now James chapter 4 verse 7
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tells us they're to resist the devil and he will flee.
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So he does tempt us. We can blame the world system
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that's all around us and talk about how hard it is to live a
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righteous life that honours God and the days that we're living.
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And that's true. The world is a hard place
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sometimes to be a Christian and and again, James wouldn't negate
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that the devil that the world are against us in these ways,
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but he wants us to look deeper into our own hearts to the root
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of the problem, which is my own evil in me.
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My pastor back in Philly would always say the heart of the
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problem is always the problem of the heart.
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So temptation is always present. God never prompts temptation #3
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Temptation always follows a consistent process.
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Temptation always follows a consistent process.
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This this is. You're not the exception to
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this, or it doesn't sometimes move in it.
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This is always the process that temptation will take.
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We could call this the anatomy of temptation.
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Look at what it says in verse 14.
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Each one is tempted, by the way. Take note of this each one.
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Which means we are all tempted. You, me, every single person in
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this room. None of us are exempt.
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None of us are immune. Now, your temptation may look
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different from my temptation, and the way I'm tempted may look
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different from the way she's tempted, but we're all in this
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together. There's nobody in this place
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that isn't tempted with sin. And by the way, it isn't a sin
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to be tempted. That's important to take note of
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because again, Jesus himself was tempted and it and and it tells
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us in his word he was tempted. Yet he was without.
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Sin. That's the difference between
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Jesus and us. First John, chapter 2.
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Tells us that. The ways that we are tempted
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primarily are with the lust of the flesh, the lust of our eyes,
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and the pride of life. And Jesus was tempted in the
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same way with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and
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the pride of life. Yet he never sinned.
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And because Jesus resisted that, and because Jesus now lives
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inside of me and you, you don't have to submit to the temptation
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it has, no. Power over you.
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As a matter of fact, 1st Corinthians 1013 many of us know
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this and have memorized it. But if not, this is a promise
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worth writing down. Tells us there no temptation has
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overtaken you. Except what is?
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Common to man, so again, it's familiar.
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To all of us, but God is faithful.
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It doesn't say you need to try really hard to be faithful when
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you're tempted. It says God is faithful who will
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not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but
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with a temptation will also make the way of escape that you may
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be able to bear it. Now verse 14 says each one is
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tempted. Notice this when he is drawn
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away. Now literally there, that is a
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fishing term drawn away, which means to bait or to trap, to
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bait or to trap. And it says that each one is
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drawn away by his own desires, his own lusts.
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And it says there that he's enticed.
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Now that enticed means literally to bait a hook, to bait a hook,
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or to be entrapped is the idea Not by God.
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Again, God's not the one that entraps us or entices us, but
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it's what's in here, it's what's in me, it's our desires.
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And by the way, we alone are culpable for the decisions that
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we make. So again, using the fishing
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analogy that James is using here with the words that he's using,
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a lure is dropped into our lives, something that's meant to
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entice us and draw us away from the safety.
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Of the Lord. And what we have in him, David
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would say, you know, I run to this shadow of his wings.
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I find safety in him. He is my refuge.
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He's my rock. But temptation would want to
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call you out of that protection, out of that safety.
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So the bait is set. The enemy is very, very patient.
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By the way. The bait can sit out there for a
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long time. That's probably one of the
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reasons I'm not really a big fisherman myself.
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I enjoy it hanging out with people.
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I enjoy hanging out with the guys.
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I enjoy hanging out with my kids.
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Well, I'm not a very patient person, so they just.
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Sit there and wait is like torture for me, but not for the
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enemy. The enemy is completely fine.
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I very patient to wait. As the bait is set.
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Verse 15 tells us then the next part of this.
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Process so that the the the. Lure is dropped into our lives.
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The bait is set. Verse 15.
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Then when desire has conceived, that's the same word that speaks
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there of conceiving a child. So when desire is conceived, it
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gives. Birth to.
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Sin, and sin when it is. Full.
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Grown brings forth death. So again, the hook, line, and
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sinker of sin is this #1 The outward bait lures us and
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entices. Us and it's there and it looks
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good to the eyes and man it probably feels really good too
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and I deserve it right I because it's I'm working so hard and
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that would be so good so the the outward bait that lures us and
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entices us is then met with the inward desire to take the bait
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so it's there I desire. It and a cycle then is set in
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motion and when that cycle runs its course if we don't stop.
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It by the power of the Holy Spirit, desire gives birth to
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sin. In other words, that desire met
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with the bait that lures us, combined together produces a
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sinful. Act when I say yes to it, when I
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give into it. And then fourthly, sin brings
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death and death, by the way, something that we see far too
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often in our church, the death of a family because of sin, the
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death of a marriage because of sin, the death of relationship,
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the death of trust with another person.
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There's so many ways that things die because of sin in our lives,
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and it's important for us to know this too, that we never sin
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unto ourselves alone. That's one of the lies that we
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think. Well, no, it's not affecting
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anyone else. It's me.
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I'm alone, the doors shut, No one else knows about it.
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It's except for God. It's good.
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But we never sin into ourselves alone.
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It always infects those around us.
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Sin always does that. It's like a cancer.
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It spreads. Now you don't sin to.
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Yourself. It affects your wife, it affects
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your husband, it affects your Co workers.
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It spreads. And and and it makes things
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confusing. The enemy is the author of
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confusion. And then, and then sin piles
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upon sin and you just, it's overwhelming.
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And this. Is why, by the way, we have to
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be careful with. Playing thoughts in our mind.
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Playing with things in our mind, the way we think, our thought.
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Life. It's true that you can't stop
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those sinful thoughts that just jump into your mind.
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I remember talking. To a elderly.
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Gentleman at one of our churches many, many years ago and we were
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talking about some of these things and he said.
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Josh, if I told you. Some of the thoughts that would
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pop into my mind in the middle. Of a worship service.
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It would blow your socks off. And I'm thinking I can't.
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Believe it like I thought it was.
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Just me that experienced that, but here's this guy, the Saint
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walking with the Lord for for years.
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You can't stop those thoughts from coming into your head,
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seeming to come out of nowhere, Paul says in Ephesians 6.
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Those are the flaming arrows of the enemy that he's sending your
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way. But you can bring those thoughts
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into captivity to Christ and not entertain those thoughts.
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That's something you can do, Martin.
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Luther said it this way. You can't stop a bird from
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flying over your head, but you can keep him from making a nest
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in your hair, Right? And so when we're tempted and
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when we're drawn by our own desires, as it says here in
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verse 14, by the way, it's not just sexual things as we may
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tend to be thinking about it. It's for money, it's for
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covetousness, it's gambling, it's alcohol, it's revenge to
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satisfy bitterness and hatred. I remember once talking to a guy
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and he wanted to talk to me about his lust.
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And I thought it was going to be a normal conversation, but he
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said his lust was bloodlust. And I thought, what does that
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mean? And he goes, I just have
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thoughts because of some of the things from his past, violent
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thoughts continuously in my, in my mind, in my heart.
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So again, here's what happens. We allow these images or these
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thoughts to play over and over again in your mind, whatever it
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may be, whatever it is that's tempting you.
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And at some point, by the way, after having thought about it
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over and over and over and over again and playing with it and
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entertaining it, you may have the opportunity to do the very
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thing that you've been thinking or fantasizing about.
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It may come to you, and in that moment you really don't have to
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think about it because you've already been rehearsing it in
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your mind. It becomes that much easier to
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step right into sin. And so again desire finds the
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circumstance and then it conceives.
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Is what James would say conceives.
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It's. Rarely one weak moment like.
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Oh, I was just. I was.
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Weak in that moment, right? And then all of a sudden I gave
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in. Usually we've rehearsed it
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already in our minds. It's a slow burn.
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These, these desires in US are beginning to whittle away at
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you. You.
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You begin to let your guard down you.
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Play with those. Thoughts and let them sort of
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linger there rather than taking them captive to Christ.
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And so the only way that we break the cycle of sin in our
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thought life is we turn from it and we turn to Jesus.
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That's the picture of repentance.
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We force our thoughts and we force our desires to the feet of
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the Father. That's how Warren Weirsby would
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say it. Force them to the feet of the
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Father. Romans 519 says it this way.
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For as by one man's disobedience, Speaking of Adam,
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many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience, Speaking
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of Jesus, many will be made righteous.
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So Jesus breaks the power of sin.
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Jesus breaks the power of darkness.
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Jesus breaks the power of temptation.
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Jesus breaks the power of those thoughts that are running in our
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mind. And instead of death, Jesus
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gives us life. Instead of sin, there is
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forgiveness for you. Instead of evil desire, he
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changes those desires and helps us to control those old desires.
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When that lure of temptations dropped into your life, Jesus is
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capable and able to help you with this.
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So the message of the Gospel here tonight is this.
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You can quit no matter what lure is in your life tonight before.
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Payday before it. Comes you can quit before sin
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and the consequences of sin are experienced in your life, you
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can. Quit before you get lured.
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And hooked onto that bait. Before you get.
24:40
Caught because often times what happens when we get caught is we
24:43
want to cover it up. And by covering it up now we're
24:45
lying about it. But if you're here tonight and
24:49
you've given yourself over to some of these desires, we know
24:54
this. But I want to remind you first,
24:55
John 19 says this. If we confess our sins, God is
25:01
faithful and God is just, and He will forgive you of your sins
25:08
and he'll cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
25:12
Confession is simply this. Admitting that what we did, or
25:16
admitting that what I've been thinking, or admitting at what I
25:20
how I responded was wrong, was wrong.
25:23
We take responsibility for it. Confession is saying I'm guilty
25:28
and I'm the one to blame for God.
25:29
You're not the one to blame. The person next to me isn't the
25:32
one to blame. We can try to blame the devil
25:35
for it, but I'm the one to blame.
25:37
I'm a Sinner not just by nature, I'm also a Sinner by choice.
25:41
I choose to sin. And He is faithful and he is
25:45
just. And the distance that's felt
25:47
from us and God when we sin is removed the moment we confess
25:52
it. Because.
25:53
Because he's faithful, because he's just to cleanse us.
25:56
This is how we deal with sin and temptation tonight.
25:59
Confess and forsake. Confess and repent the beautiful
26:05
word. Repent to turn from sin, to turn
26:08
to Jesus with his arms open, willing to receive you back.
26:13
Another line of defense. By the way, for temptation and
26:16
sin is to find a brother in your life another guy for the men
26:21
here, or to find a sister in your life for for the ladies
26:24
here who can. Walk.
26:26
With you if you're really struggling.
26:29
It's one of the benefits of our men's ministry and our women's
26:31
ministry is that we break into breakout groups so that you can
26:35
find other men, find other women that can help you with what it
26:39
is that you're struggling with. And that requires you to have an
26:43
open, honest, accountable relationship with a person in
26:48
your life or. A.
26:49
A group of people. Inviting them into your life to
26:52
ask the honest and the hard and the difficult questions.
26:56
How are you doing? Did you mess up again this week?
26:59
What's going on again? To do whatever it takes in your
27:03
life, whatever sacrifice is necessary to make it difficult
27:09
to sin, That's what we want to do.
27:11
Whatever I need to sacrifice, whatever I need to do to make it
27:14
difficult to sin in my life, I'll do it.
27:17
And I'll do it with a brother that will link Shields with me
27:22
and will March forward and battle together.
27:24
I'll do it with a sister who will come alongside me and pray
27:27
for me and encourage me. So again, temptation always.
27:30
Thoughts. Always starts, I should say,
27:32
with a thought, but it leads to death, James tells us.
27:38
It will lead to the death of your reputation.
27:40
It will lead to the death of your character.
27:42
It will lead to the death of relationships.
27:45
It will lead to the death even of a healthy relationship with
27:48
Jesus. Tonight someone said it this
27:51
way. This has been helpful for me.
27:53
Sow a thought. Reap an action, Sow an action.
27:58
You reap a habit. Sow a habit.
28:01
You reap a character and you sow a character and you reap a
28:06
destiny. I'll say that again.
28:09
Sow a thought, you reap an action.
28:11
Sow an action. You reap a habit.
28:14
Sow a habit, you reap a character.
28:17
Sow a character and you reap a destiny.
28:20
Starts with a thought. So James is telling us that your
28:25
Christian maturity. How you deal with trials?
28:29
And temptation is literally a matter of life and death.
28:34
That's what he says here. He even says in verse 16.
28:36
So don't be deceived, my beloved brethren.
28:40
Don't be. Don't get it twisted is how
28:42
James would say it right? Again, 4 things to know about
28:46
temptation #1 temptation is always present #2 God never
28:51
prompts temptation #3 temptation always follows a consistent
28:56
process. So that's the negative side of
28:58
temptation that James gives us. The end is death, but the
29:03
positive side, and our fourth point here is that temptation
29:07
can be resisted. Temptation can be resisted.
29:11
Look at verse 17 here it says every good and every good gift
29:17
and every perfect or complete gift is from above and comes
29:23
down. I love that from the Father of
29:25
lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
29:31
So the source of victory? And temptation is God, and
29:36
anything good and perfect comes from the one who Himself is.
29:40
Good. And perfect and and I love that.
29:44
We can take a look around tonight.
29:46
And be aware of all of these good and these perfect gifts
29:49
that he's given us. We could probably spend the rest
29:51
of the night here and say, look, I'm saved.
29:53
That's a good. And a perfect gift.
29:56
I have family, I have friends, I've got church family I have.
30:00
You. Guys, so many good and.
30:03
Perfect gifts that God has given to us.
30:05
And by the way, we become especially.
30:07
Aware of these good and perfect gifts after a serious illness,
30:12
Right that we've recovered. From.
30:13
Or or a. Brush with death because we
30:16
become keenly aware of how precious life is, and then the
30:20
little things in our life become the big things in our life.
30:24
The the Cup of. Coffee in the morning.
30:27
I just thank you, Lord, that I have another day of life.
30:29
My Bible's open. Thank you, Lord, for your
30:31
faithfulness to me. The sun is out, so thankful.
30:35
Or or it rains. I love rain, right?
30:37
Lord? Thank you for the rain.
30:39
They've got food in the refrigerator that most people
30:41
can only dream of On the planet that we live, even when my kids
30:45
are miserable, I thank you, God that I have kids.
30:49
Thank you that we've walked in here tonight.
30:51
We had two legs, most of us to walk in here.
30:53
Most of us have two eyes. We can see two ears we can hear.
30:56
Thank you God man, every good and perfect gift comes from you.
31:01
Because you are good God. You are perfect, God.
31:05
And it continues to come down is the idea that when it speaks of
31:08
coming down, it continues to come down.
31:11
God doesn't have a bad day. God doesn't withhold from us.
31:15
He doesn't take a a day off from blessing us.
31:19
It tells us he is the father of lights.
31:22
Literally the the lights there speaks of the stars and the moon
31:26
and the sun in the sky and, and the idea is when the earth
31:31
rotates, there's night and there's day.
31:34
When the moon rotates, one side is light and one side is dark.
31:39
But with God, with the father of lights, there's no turning.
31:43
There's no variation, there's no shadow of turning.
31:47
He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
31:49
He is the unchanging 1 and he's the one that dispels the the
31:55
darkness of deceit. He's the one that dispels the
31:58
lies and the traps of the enemy from our life.
32:00
We can trust him. We can come to him knowing he he
32:03
is a blessing God knowing that he will help us in our times of
32:06
trial and our times of temptation.
32:09
And then it says here in verse 18 of his own will, he brought
32:13
us forth by the word of truth. In other words, he decided he
32:18
wanted us to be born again. He is the initiator in this
32:22
relationship. While.
32:24
We were still sinners. Bible tells us Christ died for
32:27
us while we wanted nothing to do with him, while we were haters
32:30
of God. He came after us because God so
32:34
loved the world. That's why he.
32:36
Gave his one and only son that. Whoever would believe.
32:39
Would not perish, but of everlasting life.
32:42
And it says here then that we might become a kind of
32:44
firstfruits of his creatures. First fruits is just meaning
32:51
that we are the 1st in His creation is the idea and that we
32:55
belong. To Him, very simple terms there,
32:59
because we are a new creation, the Bible says, those of us who
33:03
are his children, those of us, those of us who are born of his
33:06
spirit and washed in his blood. That we.
33:09
We are first. In everything else that he's
33:12
created and we belong to him. So then verse 19, because of
33:17
these things, in light of the fact that God has brought us
33:20
forth by his word, in light of the fact that he gives good and
33:24
perfect gifts, James wants us to know not only can we resist
33:28
temptation, but he wants us to see what a life of victory over
33:32
temptation looks like. And so he continues with some
33:35
very practical things here. He says this, my beloved
33:38
brethren, my beloved brethren, is that that phrase is used 19
33:43
times in the book of James, and this includes everyone that
33:48
includes you and I tonight. So then, my beloved brethren,
33:52
let every man, or literally every person there.
33:56
Be swift to hear, slow to speak. And slow to wrath and I read
34:02
this and I think, man, my life would be so much easier if I
34:06
would do this more often, right? I get myself in so much trouble.
34:11
Swift to. Hear means quick to listen, slow
34:16
to speak, and slow to wrath. Or literally slow to losing my
34:21
temper, Slow to getting angry. You know, there's some of us
34:25
here tonight. It takes a lot to get you angry.
34:28
Someone has to really push your buttons to get you there.
34:31
And there's others of us tonight that your fuse is a lot shorter
34:34
and it doesn't take you much to get angry, right?
34:37
But again, one of my pastors would always say this.
34:41
You have two ears and one mouth for a reason, right?
34:45
There's a parable that is living on your head.
34:48
You should listen twice as much as you talk.
34:52
You should listen twice as much as you talk so.
34:54
Slow to speak, slow to speak. You know, it's interesting.
34:57
I don't usually regret the things that I don't say.
35:01
Very rarely. Maybe on occasion, I'll say,
35:03
man, I wish I would have said that.
35:04
That would have been helpful. I should have spoken up there.
35:07
I very rarely regret the things I don't say, but I often regret
35:11
the things I do say. Often, unfortunately, more than
35:14
I'd like to admit. You know when the words start
35:17
coming out of your mouth faster than your brain can actually
35:19
process them. And you?
35:21
Just wish you could. Grab them and bring them back
35:23
in. But you can't once a.
35:24
Word is out. It's out.
35:26
You can't reel it back in, right?
35:29
You can say, dude, sorry I. Shouldn't have said that.
35:32
But once it's out, it's out. And, and.
35:34
And nobody gets angry, by the way, when we listen to them.
35:39
They'll get angry when we speak, but nobody really gets angry
35:43
when we listen. The idea is it's not our ear
35:47
that gets us into trouble. It's our mouth that gets us into
35:50
trouble. Amen.
35:52
All right, I'm not alone. OK.
35:55
And verse 20 says this, for the wrath of man does not produce
35:58
the righteousness of God. I need to remember this in
36:00
traffic. I need to quote this first.
36:03
The wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of
36:05
God. Help me Lord.
36:07
Verse 21. Therefore, because of that, lay
36:11
aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness.
36:17
The King James Version says naughtiness.
36:19
I like that naughtiness and receive with meekness the
36:24
implanted word which is able to save your souls.
36:29
So James says this lay aside, this is an imperative.
36:32
By the way, this. Is something you do.
36:34
You lay aside all the things that are filthy, all the things
36:39
that are wicked in our lives. Otherwise, if we don't lay those
36:42
things aside, we're prone to. Do those things.
36:46
Like the old hymn says, I'm prone to wander.
36:49
I'm pro and I feel it. I'm prone to leave the God I
36:52
love and to go back to those things again.
36:54
So James would say, lay those things aside and then receive
36:58
the implanted. Word.
37:01
The word of God. The Bible is like a seed.
37:04
Jesus would tell us this too. It's planted in our hearts, and
37:08
the purpose of that seed is to help us grow.
37:11
And as we grow, we bear fruit. So how?
37:15
Do we receive? The implanted word, as James
37:19
will talk about well, very practically, when you go home
37:22
this evening and whether you're going to go home and read the
37:25
word tonight or whether you're going to read it tomorrow
37:28
morning when you wake up or maybe at your lunch break
37:30
tomorrow, you ask. God to help.
37:33
This come alive to me, or make this come alive in my life, in
37:37
my heart. Ask him to bear fruit and that
37:41
that there would be increase of these things in your life.
37:44
When you're spending time with this, you ask him for it.
37:48
Ask him to prepare your heart before you come on to a service
37:51
here at church. Before I come in, on my way in,
37:54
I'm driving and look, prepare my heart.
37:56
God, when I sit underneath the teaching of the word, I, I want,
38:00
I want to receive this implanted seed, this word in my heart and
38:05
know this, by the way, no time is wasted when you spend time in
38:09
the word of God. There may be times you don't
38:12
understand at all. A lot of new believers are like,
38:14
I'm going to read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.
38:17
This is going to be great. And that's just I assume that's
38:20
what I should do. Start at the beginning and read
38:21
to the end, but by the time they get to numbers.
38:23
Right. They're like, oh.
38:24
I don't understand at all what's going on.
38:26
So they close their Bible. They're like, I'm going to go to
38:28
church and let my pastor tell me what's going on.
38:30
And it discourages them. But I'll tell you this, you're
38:32
never wasting any time in God's Word, even if you don't
38:35
understand it intellectually. He is always doing the work in
38:39
you spiritually. Always, he tells us, as the rain
38:43
falls from the sky and waters the earth, so my word falls on
38:47
your heart, and it never returns void.
38:51
It always accomplishes what it was sent forth to do.
38:54
It's living, it's active, it's alive.
38:58
It's different than any other book on your bookshelf.
39:00
It's how God has chosen to spoke speak to us.
39:04
It's through his word, and so it is.
39:07
Seed. And he's planning it in your
39:09
heart, and he waters it, and he shines his light on it.
39:13
He illuminates it. And if you make this, if you
39:17
make this your priority in life, if you make it your primary
39:20
concern, if you hunger for this. And oh how God would give us a
39:24
church that continues to hunger for the Word of God.
39:27
If we do this, you're going to grow like crazy.
39:31
And God is going to do an amazing work in this place if,
39:34
if and we are. By the way, what I love about
39:37
this church is that. We are people of the book.
39:40
We love it, we open it every single time.
39:42
We gather, we study it, we look into it, and there is great
39:45
blessing that comes from taking His Word and and becoming.
39:50
People that receive this word. But verse 22 and this is
39:55
important for us, be doers of the word and not hearers only
40:02
deceiving yourselves. You know, there's a phrase that
40:05
we used to use back in the day when we had pews in the
40:08
churches, we'd call people that just sat Pew potatoes, right?
40:12
Because they would just sit and they would eat and they would
40:15
eat and they would just, you know, but they would never be
40:17
working out the very things that they're hearing and listening to
40:20
week after week. This verse 22, how many times
40:24
did Jesus say this to the Pharisees and to the Sadducees?
40:27
You guys are not doing the word, You're not living it out.
40:31
And James is saying to us, this is actually something we can
40:35
live out. It's possible to do this?
40:37
It can be real in our lives to live these things out.
40:41
We have the word of God. And it is to do and to obey.
40:47
What I love about new believers, when people first give their
40:50
heart and life to Jesus, it's so beautiful because what they will
40:54
do right away in simplicity, they will go to God's Word and
40:59
they'll read it to see how they should act as a husband, and
41:02
they'll read it to see what a faithful wife is or how can I
41:07
live as a faithful single person.
41:10
Because new believers believe it when they read it.
41:13
I love that they're hungry for it and there's conviction in
41:17
their life when they come to this and they read it.
41:20
But what happens to so many of us is that time goes on.
41:27
We, we are are so used to hearing the word taught every
41:30
single week, twice a week, plus Grace FM and all the studies
41:34
that we hear plus YouTube. We've got the best Bible
41:37
teaching out there. We get used to hearing it, and
41:40
then the fire of that new believer conviction in our
41:43
hearts starts to cool. And as that begins to cool, we
41:48
know the word intellectually, but it's no longer burning in us
41:53
as it once did. It's no longer keeping in us
41:59
those fires. To live a life.
42:03
That honors him the way we once wanted to honor him.
42:05
And again, we begin to excuse our behavior.
42:09
We begin to play with those. Thoughts.
42:11
In ways that we never would have done at the beginning, right?
42:15
If anything, we came out of that world.
42:17
We're running from all those things, but we're not as on fire
42:22
as we once were. And so we allow compromise and
42:24
our hearts are cooled and we can start to go through the motions.
42:28
And I would just pray for me if you would pray for me, and I'll
42:31
pray for you. Holy Spirit, would you?
42:33
Bring back that fire to my heart.
42:36
Holy Spirit, would you? Bring back that conviction,
42:38
Lord, would you help me to return to my first love again
42:42
and to do the things that I did at the very beginning?
42:45
And may we read the Bible and do.
42:48
What it says to live it out, to apply it to our lives, to obey
42:51
it, and to read it, that that it would actually affect what I'm
42:54
going to do today and what I'm going to do tomorrow.
42:57
And now that I've read it, God, this can be our prayer.
43:00
Now that I've read it, Lord, I am determined by the power of
43:03
the Holy Spirit to do it. Because if we don't, then as
43:09
James says here, we just hear it and hearing it and not doing it
43:13
deceive. We deceive ourselves.
43:15
That's all we're doing. Notice by the way, it's not
43:17
Satan that James says deceives us.
43:19
It's it's we deceiving ourselves, right?
43:23
I'm sitting in church, I'm listening, but I'm not applying
43:25
it. And I'm deceiving myself just
43:27
like the Pharisees did, or just like anyone today that plays
43:31
religious games or the loves to come and play church.
43:36
But there's no reality of Jesus in that person's life there.
43:41
There's no empowering. Of the Holy.
43:44
Spirit, there's no fire burning and James would continue here in
43:49
verse 23 if anyone is a. Hearer of the word.
43:51
And not a doer. He's like a man observing his
43:55
natural face in a mirror. I thought this was hilarious by
43:58
the way, as I was studying this observe.
44:02
It means a casual glance. It's like, you know, you're in
44:04
the mall and you walk by and you see yourself.
44:06
You pass a mirror and you see yourself.
44:08
Or you're at the grocery store in the parking lot and you kind
44:10
of see your reflection in a window as you're passing by.
44:14
That's kind of the idea. But it says here that if anyone
44:18
is a hearer of the word, not a doer, he is like a man.
44:20
That word man there is literally the word male.
44:24
So he's literally saying here, which is so interesting.
44:28
It's like a man that just casually looks at himself.
44:31
And that's exactly what most dudes.
44:32
Do right they just. Look in the mirror.
44:34
They don't, you know, primp themselves a lot.
44:37
They're not spending long periods of time looking at
44:39
themselves in the mirror. It's just kind of like I'm
44:41
looking, I'm good, and I'm on my way for the rest of the day.
44:44
It's like a man. Who just quickly.
44:46
Glances at himself is the idea, the purpose of course, of a
44:49
mirror. It tells us in verse 24, if he
44:52
observes himself and goes away, he immediately forgets what kind
44:57
of a man he was. Because the purpose of a mirror
44:59
is to tell you the truth about what kind of a man or what kind
45:02
of a woman you are. It reveals a mirror, good and
45:06
bad, and it helps you with something that needs to be fixed
45:09
in your in your life. So if you're looking in a mirror
45:11
and you've got something stuck in your teeth, the mirror is to
45:13
help you to pick your teeth and get that thing out of there,
45:16
right? Or if there's something hanging
45:17
from your nose, the purpose of the mirrors, I don't want to
45:20
walk out with that thing, right? The idea again is when we're
45:24
alone and we open this in our bedrooms are on our kitchen
45:30
tables are in our back decks and we say, OK, Holy Spirit, I want
45:34
you to use. This to speak to me, the word of
45:37
God. It will do that in your life
45:40
just like a mirror. It will give you an honest
45:43
assessment of yourself. It will tell you the truth about
45:47
who you are. It will talk to you.
45:50
Spurgeon said that his words jump off the page and bite me.
45:54
I love that it speaks to us. It grips us as the idea.
45:59
And by the way, it's easy for me to read this and to think, oh,
46:01
this is so good for the church. This kind of this word is so
46:05
good. But then God comes and says to
46:07
me, Josh, I'm talking to you. You're the one that needs to
46:11
hear this. And I read it and then I can
46:15
honestly evaluate how am I doing in.
46:17
Trials. Or or how am I doing in
46:22
temptation and as God is speaking to me about?
46:26
This I realize there's a lot. Left in me that is still not
46:31
like. Jesus.
46:34
There's a lot left in me that is still not Christ like.
46:37
How am I losing my temper? How am I getting impatient with
46:42
my wife? How am I doing in traffic?
46:45
Let's not answer that question, please.
46:49
James says being a hearer and not a doer is like a man who
46:53
looks in a mirror, walks away, forgot what he saw, he forgot
46:57
what God showed him about himself.
47:01
Verse 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and
47:07
continues in it, in other words, he who looks into the entirety
47:13
of Scripture, which doesn't bring us bondage, it doesn't
47:18
bring us condemnation. God's Word gives us freedom and
47:22
liberty. And if we continue in the things
47:26
that we're reading, you know, we used to continue in sin, we used
47:30
to continue in alcohol, we used to continue in pornography.
47:34
But now we've been set. Free.
47:37
And so we continue in this word that brings us liberty.
47:41
And if we are not a forgetful hero verse 25, but a doer.
47:45
Of the work. This one will be blessed in what
47:47
he does. There's a blessing attached to
47:50
this verse 26 if anyone, that's all of us tonight.
47:55
If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and by the way, that
47:58
word. Religious is a good.
48:00
Use of that word We tend to think of religion as a bad word.
48:04
I've got relationship but not religion.
48:07
But this here is simply speaking in a good sense of practicing
48:10
what you believe is the idea. So if anyone among you thinks he
48:14
is religious, but he doesn't bridle his own tongue, he
48:17
deceives his own heart and this one's religion is useless.
48:22
So again, a lot of people will use their tongue to.
48:24
Prove how spiritual they are. See it all the.
48:27
Time and their tongue will get them in trouble.
48:30
James talks more about that in chapter 3.
48:34
But if we can't control our tongue.
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Just like a bridle. On a horse would control the
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horse. Then we deceive our own heart,
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is what James is saying. And all of our religious games
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are useless. They do no good for anybody.
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They do no good for you. They don't even do good for
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myself because it's inauthentic for me to.
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Just show up. But I can't even control my own
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tongue. It's disingenuous and the world
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doesn't need Christians playing spiritual games.
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The world doesn't need any of us living in compromise or living
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in hypocrisy. The world needs men and women
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filled. With the Holy Spirit of God, the
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world needs God's Word speaking to God's people to direct the
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way that they live, to direct the way that they talk, both in
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what we say and also by the way, and what we don't.
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Say and James gives an example. Here as we get ready to wrap
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this up of the. The kind of religion that is
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genuine and one that is not useless, but useful for the days
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that we're living. Verse 27.
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Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is
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this to visit orphans and widows in their time of trouble and to
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keep oneself unspotted from the world throughout all of
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Scripture. God takes a very special
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interest in widows and the fatherless.
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And we see that as a matter of fact, he takes so much interest
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that in the Old Testament he says, if you mess with them, you
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mess with me. I love that heart of God.
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So there are hypocritical and useless religious games that we
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can play those who hear the word and don't do the word.
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But this is what pure religion looks like to visit the
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fatherless. And to welcome them into their
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homes. I'm so thankful for the people
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that are in this room tonight that have adopted children, that
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have fostered children, that bring them into their homes and
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point them to Jesus and want to provide an environment where
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these people that for whatever reason, they're not with their
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mom and dad but are now in this home.
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Are able to raise them in the nurture and the admonition of
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Jesus so that they would walk with Jesus for all of their
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days. Every single child matters.
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Every life is precious and we are all pro-life in this room,
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but we are pro-life from the womb to the tomb.
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All of life matters, not just after.
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Before they're born, after they're born and to visit
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widows, it says here to make sure that they are doing OK, to
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check in on them and help them with their yard work, to help
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them with repairs in their homes and with their cars, or even
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just to sit with them. And they're lonely and they're
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missing their loved ones. To let them know that they're
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seen and they're heard and they're valued by their church
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family. To go visit the nursing homes
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and the convalescent homes. This honors the heart of God.
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It speaks of the heart of God. And then James, we'll close in
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this verse 27 here to keep oneself unspotted or literally
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unpolluted from the. World to keep ourselves, to keep
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yourself. Free from compromise, free from
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sin. And again, James watched.
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All of this. Everything he's Speaking of in
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the. Life of his Big Brother Jesus.
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He saw what it was like to be quick to listen and slow to
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speak and slow to become angry. You know, God wants us to resist
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temptation because he knows as we do that we'll be more usable
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in the life that he's given us. And he will give you every
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resource because he is alive in you to say no to sin.
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And as the worship team comes up here, I I love this story that
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Chuck Smith once told a pastor, Chuck Smith, he was having a
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meeting on a Sunday. Evening and they decided to go
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around the room, big circle, sitting in a circle and for each
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person to go through and talk about a promise in their life
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that was their favorite life promise, favorite Bible verse.
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And so one person went, one person went, and they finally
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got to this. Little old lady.
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And she said, my favorite Bible verse is this.
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And it came to pass. And it came to pass and Chuck
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Smith went, oh, why is? That your favorite verse?
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It's an interesting Life Promise Bible verse, and I love her
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response, she said. Because whenever I am in a trial
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or whenever I'm tempted, I'm reminded it didn't come to stay,
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but it came to pass. And I love that.
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So why don't we stand? And I want to say.
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This to you as we closed. If you're here and you have been
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living in compromise and you've been giving into temptation, I
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want you to know tonight we, we can't leave this place without
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giving you some hope and some good news.
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Apart from what we've heard, God can and will redeem you.
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And I'm speaking here to a believer and you know that
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you've given your heart and life to Jesus, but you've been living
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in compromise. I just want you to hear tonight
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you're not too far gone. God desires tonight to draw you
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back to himself. There's no sin that any of us in
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this room have committed that God's grace is not greater than.
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And I'm so thankful for that. And I would encourage you
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tonight as we, as we close with this song, I think the
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invitation the Lord would want from us as we've talked about
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temptation tonight. Is to leave what whatever it is.
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In this room in the sanctuary. To leave it here, the Lord says
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cast your care on me because I care for you, literally to roll
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it off of your shoulder onto him.
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Let him carry these things that you're weighed down with, Jesus
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said if. If you're weary and you're heavy
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laden, weighed down, come to me. Jesus says now I will give you
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rest for your soul, for I'm gentle and I'm lowly in heart.
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Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.
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Learn from me. And that's His invitation to you
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tonight. You don't need to leave or to
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leave this sanctuary with what you brought into the sanctuary.
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You can leave it here at the foot of the cross.
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And by the authority of what we read tonight from God himself
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and the Holy Spirit speaking to yourself, you can leave it.
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You can leave it and He will fill you with strength and with
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power. So that is that temptation comes
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and that lure is dropped in front of you.
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Again. You can be like Jesus who was
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tempted. He was without sin.
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He can help you to say no to that sin.
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And if you would like to talk to a pastor or pray, we're all
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going to be up here at the end. We'd love to pray for you.
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We'd love to encourage you. We pray that you've been
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encouraged by this Bible study, delivered live from the
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sanctuary of Calvary Church. For prayer, call us at 87730
55:37
Grace that's 877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
55:44
integrity or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
55:49
online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
55:54
Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
55:57
this week.