Dealing with Temptation
The Christian life is not always easy. In fact, it is war! Unfortunately, it doesn’t always look like war. Too often it appears on the surface like the tranquil picture of a fisherman casting his line into a cool, serene lake—but Satan is the fisherman and we’re the fish! He uses the bait of our own selfish desires to lure us into sin.
We don’t have to give in. We can stand strong in the face of temptation. How do we defend ourselves against the schemes of the devil? In these six sessions, we will consider how to deal with temptation and sin. We’ll discover how to stand our ground, avoid sin, live faithfully for God, and live lives that please Him.
I pray that, by the end of our study together, you will be able to identify the source of your sin, expose your idols, and learn how to be satisfied in God alone.
Dealing with Temptation
Obey God and Deny Self. We cannot live in obedience to God if we are giving in to temptation. Believers must learn to deny the pull of the old sin nature and submit to God when temptation is present.
- The Source of Temptation - James 1:13-18
- The Temptation to Rely on Myself Instead of God - Deuteronomy 8:2-10; Matthew 4:1-4
- The Temptation to Test God - Deuteronomy 6:16-25; Matthew 4:5-7
- The Temptation to Place Something Else Before God - Deuteronomy 6:10-15; Matthew 4:8-11
- Recovering from a Fall into Temptation - Psalm 32:1-7
- The Strength to Stand Against Temptation - Ephesians 6:10-18
1
The Source of Temptation
Question 1:
What food can you almost never say no to?
THE POINT
We have no one to blame but ourselves when we fall into sin.
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
We all have a favorite food. We get a whiff of it, and we’re looking for a fork. It’s so tempting! The urge to take a bite of cake may not necessarily be a bad thing, but we’re often tempted to indulge ourselves in other ways. Temptation is the ultimate “bait and switch.” It promises something good, but it delivers something harmful, even deadly.
Fish discover this the hard way. As a kid, I loved fishing. I’d roll up a piece of bread on a hook, place it in the water, and watch the small fish go crazy. I’d catch the smaller fish and use them as bait to catch bigger fish. It excited me to drop the bait in the water and see if I could lure a bass to bite. It was fun for me, but not for the fish.
Who lures us into sin? We may want to blame Satan—“The devil made me do it!”—but the answer is a lot closer to home. Thankfully, the solution is as close as a prayer.
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
James 1:13
13 No one undergoing a trial should say, “I am being tempted by God,” since God is not tempted by evil, and he himself doesn’t tempt anyone.
James used words that referred to trials, tests, and temptations, but in the original language, he was using words that come from the same root word. So, when was he referring to a trial or test and when was he referring to a temptation? Context provides the answer. In the opening verses of James 1, James was clearly talking about trials (Jas. 1:1-12). Trials are difficult hardships that lead to suffering. They’re called trials because they are hard to face, and, yet, if we are to remain faithful, we endure through them. While trials test the genuineness of our faith, God uses them as a means for our endurance. A temptation, on the other hand, leads us to do something wrong and sinful.
Question 2:
How have you seen temptation work to lead people astray?
Trials are hard and we tend to blame someone for what we are going through. When we can’t find someone to blame, we may even blame God. During trials, we may also be tempted to doubt God; we doubt either His goodness or His sovereignty. Not all trials are the same. Some are only an inconvenience. Others can be debilitating, like the loss of a loved one. Those who’ve experienced such loss can often feel devastated. Sometimes as we work through grief, we want to question God. We remember that He is sovereign, all-powerful, and all-loving, and we may wonder: God, since You love me, why didn’t You spare me this pain? Since You can do all things, why didn’t You prevent this death?
This is where the book of James helps us. Is God letting us experience trials and difficulties in order to tempt us? The answer is no for two reasons:
- God is not tempted by evil. Scripture bears this out. “God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him” (1 John 1:5b). By nature, God is good. In His holiness and goodness, He will have nothing to do with sin and evil; therefore, evil has no pull on Him. Furthermore, everything God does is good. When He created, everything He made was good (Gen. 1:31). And because God is good and is the creator and source of all that is good, He cannot be tempted by evil.
- God Himself does not tempt anyone. It’s true that God tests us to strengthen our faith. God tested Abraham to prove the genuineness of his faith (Gen. 22:1-19). In the process, Abraham was strengthened. Tests strengthen, but temptations harm. Because God is good, though, He will never lead us to sin. God aims to strengthen our faith, not destroy it. He is a good God who provides the means we need to endure in faith.
Instead of looking to blame God whenever we face trials, we must remind ourselves, “God is not doing this to tempt me into sin.” He is good and wants my good as well. He is not a destroyer of faith, but a builder of faith.
James 1:14-15
14 But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. 15 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.
We’ve already seen that the source of temptation and sin is not God. But neither is it the devil. The source is our own sinful desires. This doesn’t mean the devil or other people can’t be involved, but the desire to sin is firmly rooted in ourselves. The devil tempts us by working on those evil desires. James provided a memorable picture with fishing imagery to make his point. We’re tempted when we are “drawn away and enticed by [our] own evil desire.” “Drawn away” means to be carried or dragged away. We might picture someone being reluctantly dragged away toward his death. “Enticed” pictures being lured away by something that arouses interest. “Evil desire” communicates a strong longing or craving for that which is evil, bad, or forbidden.
It would be great if we didn’t have to deal with our “own evil desire,” but consider for a moment where these desires come from. As we already noted, everything God made was good. Evil came into our world through Satan, and sin came to us through Adam. When Adam sinned, we all sinned with him (Rom. 5:12). As a result, we have inherited Adam’s sin, guilt, corruption, and condemnation (vv. 13-21). We know this is true because the penalty for sin is death—and we all die.
We sin because we are sinners by nature (Eph. 2:1-3). This is why we need new hearts. Yet, even as Christians with new hearts, we must continue to put off our old ways of thinking and renew our minds by putting on new ways of thinking. When we face trials, we’re tempted to act like we did before we were Christians, allowing our evil desires to arise and take control. The image James gave of temptation is our evil desires enticing us and dragging us away into sin. Those old, sinful, evil desires are like a fishing lure that dangles in front of us, and when we bite, we are pulled into sin.
When we allow our sinful desires to go unchecked, they entice us and drag us away into sin. We’re not just burdened with our sin; we are burdened with sin’s offspring: death. And we have no one to blame but ourselves. But let’s remember James’s aim. He wanted to encourage us to endure steadfastly under trial, which is why he wrote earlier: “Blessed is the one who endures trials, because when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him” (v. 12).
Question 3:
How would you describe the stages of temptation in your own words?
James 1:16-18
16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 By his own choice, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Question 4:
What are some of the good gifts God has given us to help face temptation?
Some might think James was introducing a new topic in verse 16, but he was returning to the role of God in our trials and temptations. James turns our attention back to God’s goodness. James highlighted God’s goodness in two positive ways.
- God provides all that is good. Everything good we experience is from God. Think about that. Run through all that is good in your life. There is nothing good you receive that’s not from God. “Every good and perfect gift is from above” (v. 17).
- God is unchanging. The lights can continually be changing, casting shadows as they turn in their orbits, but the One who created them does not change. He is “the Father of lights.” God is the sovereign creator of the lights (Gen. 1:14-19), and His sovereignty and goodness reflected in creation are still active. We are reminded of His goodness and love through them. “He made the great lights: His faithful love endures forever. the sun to rule by day, His faithful love endures forever. the moon and stars to rule by night. His faithful love endures forever” (Ps. 136:7-9).
Rather than God being the source of our temptation and giving birth to our sin, He does quite the opposite; He gives us birth “by the word of truth” (v. 18). He did this “by his own choice.” Salvation is one of those good gifts we receive from God. And the word of truth that gives us life is the word of truth we live in day after day.
God brought about the new birth in us by His will and through His word in order that “we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” The firstfruits were the initial portion of the harvest that promised a bountiful harvest to come. That’s what we are. That’s what our salvation represents. The God who is good is just getting started.
Question 5:
How can our group help one another overcome temptation in our lives?
LURED TO SIN
Choose one of the images below that best represents the way you are lured to sin. Then write a prayer asking God to help you strand strong in the face of temptation.
My Prayer:
“For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, self-indulgence, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.”
MARK 7:21-22
LIVE IT OUT
We have no one to blame but ourselves when we fall into sin. Choose one of the following applications:
Confess. If you blamed others or God for your sin or the fact you fall into sin, confess that to God. Admit your own responsibility and look to God to help you stand and resist the pull of sin.
List. Make a list of the good things God has done or placed in your life. Add to your list any trials or difficulties God used to strengthen your faith in Him. Offer a prayer of thanks for how He has worked in your life.
Instruct. Help someone you know who is struggling with temptation by sharing the truths you discovered in James 1:13-18. Don’t just focus on the principle that they alone are to blame for their sin but lift up the goodness of God who can walk with them and strengthen them.
We might think of ourselves as a lot smarter than the average fish, but it’s remarkable how easily we bite at the smallest bait. Our own sinful desires carry us away. Let’s confess our sin and take ownership for our sinful desires. We know the One who is able to grant us victory over temptation when we turn to Him.
How would you define temptation?
The desire to do something, especially something wrong or unwise.
The Christian life is not always easy, in fact,
it is war! - It doesn’t always look like war, - many times it appears like the
tranquil picture of a fisherman casting his line into a cool, serene lake — but
Satan is the fisherman and we’re the fish!
What’s his bait?
He uses the bait of our own selfish desires to lure
us into sin.
Our first lesson is on:
Who lures us into sin?
We may want to blame Satan — “The devil made me do it!” — but the
answer is a lot closer to home.
Our Lesson says:
We have no one
to blame but ourselves when we fall into sin.
James 1:13
No one undergoing a trial should say, “I am
being tempted by God,” since God is not tempted by evil, and He Himself doesn’t
tempt anyone.
James used
words that referred to trials, tests, and
temptations, but in the original
language, he was using words that come from the same root word. So, when was he
referring to a trial or test and when was he referring to a temptation? Context
provides the answer. In the opening verses of James 1, James was clearly talking
about trials (Jas. 1:1-12).
Trials are
difficult hardships that lead to suffering.
They’re called trials because they are hard to face, and, yet, if we are to
remain faithful, we endure through them. While trials test the genuineness of
our faith, God uses them as a means for our endurance.
Temptation, on
the other hand, leads us to do something wrong and sinful.
What are
some ways we may excuse our temptation to sin?
1) It’s the other person’s fault.
2) I couldn’t help myself.
3) Everybody’s doing it.
4) It was just a mistake.
5) Nobody’s perfect.
6) The devil made me do it.
7) I was pressured into it.
8) I didn’t know it was wrong.
9) God is tempting me.
A person who makes excuses is trying to shift
the blame for himself or herself to something or someone else. A Christian
accepts responsibility for their wrong, confesses them, and asks God for forgiveness.
Why is it
not possible for God to be at fault for our temptation to sin?
God Himself does not tempt anyone. It’s true that God tests us to strengthen our
faith. God tested Abraham to prove the genuineness of his faith (Gen. 22:1-19).
In the process, Abraham was strengthened. Tests strengthen, but temptations
harm. Because God is good, though, He will never lead us to sin. God aims to
strengthen our faith, not destroy it. He is a good God who provides the means
we need to endure in faith.
James 1:14-15
But
each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil
desire. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is
fully grown, it gives birth to death.
Temptation is universal; it comes to everyone.
To be tempted is not sin, but it is a step in a
predictable process.
Temptation originates in evil desires.
Evil desires lead to sin.
Sin results
in spiritual separation — death.
We’ve
already seen that the source of
temptation and sin is not God. But neither is it the devil. The source is our
own sinful desires. This doesn’t
mean the devil or other people can’t be involved, but the desire to sin is
firmly rooted in ourselves. The devil tempts us by working on those evil
desires.
What evidence
supports the truth that everyone has a sin nature?
The serpent did not make Adam and Eve take a
bite out of that forbidden apple. He merely raised questions. It was what Eve
did that got her in trouble.
The serpent did not hold her down and
force-feed her. She did it on her own.
Adam and Eve chose to sin. We sin because we
inherited a sin nature from them. It is in our spiritual DNA to sin. We sin
because we’re sinners! We can’t do anything but sin.
On the cross, Jesus removed the penalty for our
sin — but He didn’t stop there. This is the part too many believers miss, but
as Jesus removed the penalty for sin, He also removed
the power of sin. “Now if we
died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, because we know
that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no
longer rules over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time;
but the life he lives, he lives to God. So, you too consider yourselves dead to
sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:8-11).
If I’m dead to sin, then why do I still sin?!
As Christians, we no longer have to give in to
sin. We were once slaves to sin, but we’ve been set free. We sin now because we
choose to sin.
Wait a minute! I don’t choose to sin! Sorry,
but if you’re a believer indwelt by Christ Himself and you’ve sinned, it’s
because you made that choice. You gave in to temptation and sin because you
chose to. Look at how James described the sin process: “But each person
is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. Then after
desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it
gives birth to death” (Jas. 1:14-15).
Satan (or your friends) may try to tempt you,
but it’s your choice to listen. Unfortunately, we often sin out of habit.
It’s a sin we’ve given in to so much, we can’t imagine not giving in. I’ve
heard the excuse, “I can’t help it; I’ve always been this way.” We can stop
blaming the past as well. When we come to Christ, we are made new. We are new
creations in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). I’m not dismissing the struggle and the tug
of old sins and habits, but I’m begging for us to start listening to the tug of
the Holy Spirit who now indwells the heart of every believer.
If you don’t want to sin, you don’t have to. It begins by looking to Christ Himself. “But
God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able,
but with the temptation he will also provide the way out so that you may be
able to bear it” (1 Cor. 10:13). When temptation comes knocking, throw yourself
under the lordship of Christ. Look to Him, and as Scriptures promises, He will
provide the way out.
James 1:16-18
Don’t
be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from
above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting
shadows. By his own choice, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we
would be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
Some might think James was introducing a new
topic in verse 16, but he was returning to the role of God in our trials and
temptations. James turns our attention back to God’s goodness. James
highlighted God’s goodness in two positive ways.
God provides all that is good. Everything good we experience is from God.
Think about that. Run through all that is good in your life. There is nothing
good you receive that’s not from God. “Every good and perfect gift is from
above” (v. 17).
God is unchanging. The lights can continually change, casting
shadows as they turn in their orbits, but the One who created them does not
change. He is “the Father of lights.” God is the sovereign creator of the
lights (Gen. 1:14-19), and His sovereignty and goodness reflected in creation
are still active. We are reminded of His goodness and love through them. “He
made the great lights: His faithful love endures forever. the sun to rule by
day, His faithful love endures forever. the moon and stars to rule by night.
His faithful love endures forever” (Ps. 136:7-9).
Rather than God being the source of our
temptation and giving birth to our sin, He does quite the opposite; He gives us
birth “by the word of truth” (v. 18). He did this “by his own choice.”
Salvation is one of those good gifts we receive from God. And the word of truth
that gives us life is the word of truth we live in day after day.
How can remembering God’s goodness help us
resist temptation?
There’s a story about a little boy who made his widowed father an ashtray. It was a school Christmas gift project. The teacher gave the students some clay and told them to mold their parents a gift for Christmas. Since the little boy’s mother died, his father sat around in the evening smoking a tobacco pipe. So, he thought he would make him an ashtray. He molded it, stuck it in the incubator for several hours, then he painted it and put it back in the incubator. After two days he had a shiny new big blue ashtray. On Christmas, he presented it to his father. But while walking with an arm full of gifts, the heel on his cowboy boot broke and he dropped the paper-wrapped ashtray. When he opened the paper, the ashtray was shattered into pieces. The boy cried as he looked at his broken handmade gift. One of his older sisters put her hand on his shoulder and told him, “Pick up the pieces and do the best you can with what you have.”
That’s what
some of us need to do when dealing with the things we’ve broken by giving in to
temptation. Let’s pick up the pieces and do the best we can with what we have.
1. Abandon Our Excuses (v. 13)
James
made it clear that we should not blame God, nor say like Flip Wilson, “The
devil made me do it.” We must abandon the notion that we are victims of our circumstances, or that God
wired us with our weaknesses so that we
cannot avoid the sins we commit. James declared that God cannot be tempted to
sin, and neither does He tempt us to sin. The fact is, God is holy, and He has
the power and willingness to help us grow in holiness. Moses and Peter declared
that the Lord is holy (Lev. 11:44; 1 Pet. 1:15-17). Peter also teaches us that
He has endowed us with the potential to grow in holiness (2 Pet. 1:3-8).
2. Acknowledge Our Enticements (v. 14)
The
text teaches us that we are lured by our own lusts. We are drawn away by our
own desires. We are pulled by our own passions. It turns out that my greatest
enemy is the one in-a-me—that is, what is inside of me is what drives me
towards temptation and away from the things of God. So, it is not our parents;
it is our passions. It is not our surroundings; it is our sinful hearts. It is
not our infernal foe—the devil; it is our internal foe—the flesh that causes us
to be tempted. We are born in sin (Psa. 51:5; Rom. 5:12) and we are bent toward
sin (Rom. 7:18-21). We must come to grips with the fact that the heart of the
matter is the matter of the heart. Paul taught that the old man always wants to
fulfill the desires of his flesh and his mind (Eph. 2:3).
Our
internal lusts give birth to sin and our personal sin brings death. Sin kills
our fellowship with God and with other Christians. The more we sin, the farther
we move away from God. Sin kills our ability to hear clearly from God. We must
walk close enough to God and clean enough before God, in order to hear clearly
from God. Sin kills our desire to please the Lord. When we focus on satisfying
our flesh, we cannot focus on satisfying our heavenly Father. Beware of sin. Sin
promises pleasure, but it brings pain. Sin promises freedom, but it
brings bondage. Sin promises satisfaction, but it brings
unfulfillment.
3. Advance in Our Excellence (vv. 16-18)
James
reminds his readers and us about our relationship, our resources,
and our regeneration. We must understand that we are “dearly loved”
children of God. He will never tempt us nor cause us to sin. That is the
benefit of being in a relationship with Him. We must also understand that the
truly good things in life come from Him. Those are the resources we get from
our unchanging God. Then finally, we must realize that we have been born again,
made anew, and revolutionized on the inside. That is the regeneration we
experienced when we heard and believed the gospel.
Conclusion:
Trials come to all believers. We can allow the trials to test our faith and thereby grow in faith, or we can turn them into temptations in which we respond inappropriately and in ungodly ways. Furthermore, we can be confronted with situations spawned by our own evil desires that lead us to sin against God and be out of fellowship with Him. How we respond is our internal choice; nothing forces us to behave the way we do. Certainly not God. His desire is that we receive the good things He has for His children.
