OVERCOMING OVERWHELMING TEMPTATION | PASTOR LUKE LEZON

[Music]

all right welcome to Lifeford Church

everybody How's everyone feeling We

doing all right Y'all can take a seat It

is great to see you and to be here with

you all this morning I am so grateful

that we're gathered together in this

place And you might have noticed that

Easter is coming up Yes We excited for

Easter Uh yeah it's good to be excited

about the resurrection of our Lord and

Savior And I think uh I don't know who's

going to preach the 7:00 but let me know

how it goes I will be there for the ones

that follow that But um I'm sure it'll

be great Uh outside of that really

looking forward to Easter and really

looking forward to our time together

today We are continuing in a collection

of conversations that we've been in

called Walk the Walk And Walk the Walk

is just a collection It's a discussion

that is going to have us living and

lingering in the book of James for a

while And we know at this point James

wants to make sure that we practice what

we preach that James is making sure that

we are doing the things that we are

saying And so we have taken this title

from a very uh famous phrase that all of

us are familiar with Don't just talk the

talk but rather walk the walk And so

what we know to be true is that James

understands what the Christian walk

looks like James understands that we

live in a broken and a fallen world that

is sick with sin Sin that separates us

from a holy and a perfect God Romans

Romans 6:23

6:23 would tell us that the wages of sin

is death And so we know that that means

not just a physical death but also a

spiritual death eternal separation from

a holy and a perfect God Because you

cannot be holy perfect or just if you

allow sin in the camp And so because of

that you and I needed radical rescuing

redeeming intervening on our behalf

Otherwise we were completely and totally

hopeless And the good news of the gospel

of Jesus Christ is that in a merciful

demonstration of sacrificial love and

grace what we know to be true is that in

Jesus Christ we have salvation Yes That

Ephesians 1:7 would say in him there is

Ephesians 1:7

redemption the forgiveness of sin And so

you and I understand we cannot achieve

salvation by our works but rather we

receive salvation as a free gift in

Christ by repenting of our sins and

putting our faith in him and in his work

that he accomplished on our behalf The

good news of the gospel is that you

cannot and it would not work if you

tried to climb your way up to God but

rather God came down to us in the person

of his son that we are not saved by our

works And yet what we know to be true is

that the saved the sanctified will

demonstrate works that are in line with

a changed life That we will be salt and

light in a world that is tasteless and

dark That the world might understand

that there is a better way that the

world was designed And that we are

walking not in betterness than them but

rather in faithfulness to Christ And so

what we understand is that while we have

renewed and regenerated hearts we also

have engaged heads and hands in building

the kingdom of God as outlined in his

word And so we're going to be in James 1

Again James 1 We're going to be in verse

12 through 18 Uh it looks like nobody

here brought their Bible with them

except for a few people Uh and so if you

do have one uh flip there If um you know

you're still you're still working

through your sanctification you can

scroll there Uh but what we're we're

going to do is we're going to read James

1:es 12-8 and then we're going to jump

in together That sound good Y'all ready

for the word Says this "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." 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 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 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 he

would be a kind of first fruits of his

creatures Let's pray

together Lord we are grateful that you

brought us forth by the word of truth Uh

Lord that there was a time where we did

not gather together with the saved and

sing That we did not find ourselves

sitting under the teaching of your word

And yet Lord we're here today and we're

declaring that you are Lord and Savior

and that we not only want that to be

something that uh is evident based on

the words on our lips but rather it's

something that's true in our actions And

Lord today as we end up finding

ourselves navigating some really really

difficult things Uh I pray that you

would not uh slow me from going places I

pray that we would be quick to receive

the difficulty of what your word has to

say because we are more interested in

what it is that's going to make us look

more and more like your son than we are

in our own feelings And so Lord would

you move in power and in strength this

morning that that might be true as we

walk out of here that we would just be a

people that demonstrate a different

level of holiness not necessarily

perfection but looking more and more

like you Lord we love you We praise you

and we thank you We ask these things in

Jesus name Amen

Well on December the 5th 1914 Sir Ernest

Shackleton along with the 27 men that

were under his command began a voyage

from the island of South Georgia in the

South Atlantic all the way to Antarctica

aboard their famed and esteemed ship

called the Endurance Their goal was to

establish a base in the South Pole on

the wed sea coast And Shackleton himself

also had another strong desire He wanted

to be the first crew to ever cross the

continent Something that he had tried

twice and something that he had failed

twice And so as he and his crew ended up

voyaging out on this journey just two

days into the journey they ended up

hitting pack ice There were no clear

avenues of paths to travel moving

forward And so they poked and prodded

their way over the course of the next

month and some change before they would

eventually end up encountering a

gigantic northern wind on January the

18th 1915 that would push the Endurance

and those aboard it deeper into the pack

ice to the point where they were stuck

They could not move And for the next 9

months they would float on board the

Endurance at the mercy of this ice They

were stuck with it and they would have

to be stuck with it until they would

eventually abandon ship Nine months

later on October the 27th 1915 the ice

that had been carrying the Endurance

started to break it apart started to

crack it started to crush it to the

point where it began to sink And the men

knew that they needed to abandon ship

And so they watched as the ship was

crushed and sank to the icy depths And

they realized that now they had been

floating with this ice for nine months

in the endurance And now at this point

they were going to have to find

themselves exposed to the conditions and

float on top of the ice over the next

six months During that time Ernest

Shackleton knew that he was going to

have to demonstrate an exemplary level

of leadership love and care for his men

That he would have to prioritize their

well-being over his own That oftenimes

he would be feeling a lot of the same

things that the other men would But he

couldn't demonstrate that that he would

have to make sure that he was not only

prioritizing their well-being but he was

maintaining positive attitudes among the

men who in these difficult conditions

found themselves griping and complaining

and rebelling a lot That he would have

to make sure that he helped problem

solve because there were many different

difficulties they would encounter He

would make sure that he not only was

leading from the standpoint that he was

telling people what to do but he was

doing the work with them He was ruthless

in guarding the unity of the team

ruthless in making sure that they would

fight for faith in their future And as

they were a drift for these six months

on the ice after 6 months was up they

felt a literal shift beneath their feet

On April the 9th 1916 they felt the ice

beneath their feet start to crack

Temperatures had risen just enough where

things were starting to shift beneath

their feet And so Sir Ernest Shackleton

made a split-second decision to launch

the three lifeboats that they had and to

begin a five-day voyage to Elephant

Island Upon landing on Elephant Island

they found themselves in a place where

many of the men wanted to stay put They

wanted to build a life here Things had

been too difficult out there Now we're

on solid ground Why would we go anywhere

from here Let's just see what kind of

life we can build But after a week of

being there Ernest Shackleton knew that

this was not an option that was on the

table They needed further rescue He knew

that rescue and survival the chances of

it were nil because his men were

freezing starving and ill There was one

option on the table that they could

pursue And he chose to do so to sail the

800 miles back to the island from which

they had originally come the island of

South Georgia And so as he decided to do

this the men knew that they would have

to navigate some of the most dangerous

open ocean in the world And so

Shackleton gathered his five best and

strongest crewmen and they ended up

taking their best available lifeboat the

James Cared lifeboat and began a 16-day

voyage in the midst of unbelievably

difficult conditions Gale force winds

50-foot swells freezing cold

temperatures The men were freezing to

the point where they wondered if they

would freeze to death They had very

little food biscuits that they had

acquired from the Endurance some of the

remains of a dead penguin that they were

able to kill they were melting ice for

the water that they would drink That

they found themselves in a place where

they couldn't even sleep They would take

turns in the night bailing the water out

of the James Cared lifeboat because if

they didn't then it would start to

freeze and it would make the ship start

to capsize if they did not take turns

bailing out the water We see that even

as they were approaching the island of

South Georgia all of a sudden a

hurricane swept them up out of nowhere

and they had to sail outside of it and

land on the southern side of the island

of South Georgia which is significant

because the southern side of the island

was unexplored and uninhabited Nobody

lived there Nobody had even tried to It

was uninhabitable And so as they landed

on May the 10th 1916 Shackleton

immediately ordered that he and his men

hike the 32 miles across the mountains

that had been completely uncharted until

they found a whailing station where they

could call for help And Shackleton was

determined to not only make sure that he

and the five were rescued but that all

27 men in his command would be He sent

for help and then tirelessly worked to

get back to Elephant Island And on

August the 30th 1916 all were rescued

Not a single man perished So I don't

know what you think you accomplished

over the last two

years I don't know what kind of trials

you think you people are dealing with

but it wasn't

that One of the men ended up saying the

following For scientific discovery give

me Scott For speed and efficiency of

travel give me Almanson But when you're

in a hopeless situation and you have no

way of seeing a way out get down on your

knees and pray to God for Sir Ernest

Shackleton Shackleton endured great

trial and great temptation Incredible

trial Your ship is sinking in the midst

of brutal conditions and temptations

that would come alongside of that that

you don't necessarily end up planning

for Temptations like the temptation to

despair All of the men could easily be

like "We're done with this We we're

falling into depression We want to give

up You could easily find yourself in a

place with the temptation to cause

division That you could find yourself if

you're like one of these men in extreme

conditions wanting to bark orders I have

a problem with this guy and you're

hungry and you're tired and you can't

get enough to drink And so Shackleton

would bring the most problematic men

that were there and he would make sure

that they slept in his tent that night

that he could speak life into them

remind them of what they had in front of

them There was the temptation to take a

shortcut that whenever you're in extreme

conditions it could be deadly if you

left a patch of ice too soon If you

sailed before its time you could easily

find yourself dealing with the

temptation to settle Let's just try to

live for a little bit on this island

that doesn't really make a whole lot of

sense And we might make it a couple of

years but ultimately it's not the best

that there is out there for us That

there is more that we could end up

pursuing if we just end up putting a

little bit of effort into it What we see

is that Shackleton dealt with incredible

trial that brought incredible temptation

and he was able to endure and stand

strong And I say that to you and I

wanted it to be as dramatic as humanly

possible because I want you to know that

it is possible to endure and stand

strong in the midst of great trial and

temptation And James is going to implore

that we do the same He says in verse 12

"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."

James begins with language that should

evoke a reminder in the life of the

believer in the mind of a believer when

you hear it blessed Blessed that sound

familiar Jesus uses that same language

in the biatitudes Blessed are you

blessed are those blessed is the one And

we see here that James is almost using a

a different kind of beatitude He's

saying "Blessed are those who endure

trials and who stand the test." Uh

blessed is an interesting word It means

happiness but it's happiness in an

unusual way It's happiness that does not

find the basis of its happiness in

circumstance It's a happiness that you

can experience because you're in

relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ

that because you're in relationship with

the Lord Jesus Christ even if things are

not going well circumstantially I'm

still prospering spiritually I'm still

in his care That because I'm in his care

I can also be free from some of the

cares that many other people in this

world would find that they're caught up

in Why Because I'm following the king

who conquered the grave And as a result

of that that means that even through

whatever trial it feels like I'm

enduring I know that he can bring forth

a blessing because on the worst day in

human history it was also the best day

cuz it saved my life And so we realize

that there's something significant in

enduring through trials And what I love

is that it says "Blessed is the one who

endures and stood." Endures and stood

other translations Um for those of you

that read lesser translations and are

still being sanctified uh there are some

that say "Blessed is the one who endures

trials uh who remains steadfast under

trial who endures testing and

temptation." Uh enduring and remaining

steadfast It's an interesting word in

the original language

hoopo which uh literally means

persevering Endurance Remain steadfast

Perseverance Uh it it was a military

term that would be used often by the

Greeks And what it meant is to hold or

push towards a vital position no matter

how strenuous it might be Ain't that

great To hold or push towards a vital

position no matter how strenuous it

might be The imagery that it produces in

your mind is almost like that of a seed

I think about when Jesus talks about the

mustard seed planting that you might

think about like an oak tree You plant

this tiny seed in the ground and what It

needs to hold its position It needs to

stand strong Why It needs to endure the

difficulty of the conditions that it

will face that it will sprout roots that

allow it to take hold of the ground

beneath it to be anchored deep within it

But it's more than just the endurance

here It's the perseverance up here You

got to persevere through the ground that

you got to break through And you got to

persevere to become all that you were

intended to ever be I love the way that

Charles Spurgeon described perseverance

He said "With perseverance the snail

reached the

ark." With perseverance the snail

reached the

ark And it's funny but you go "The

cheetah got there faster The lion got

there flashier but God had a place for

me on board that ship And so it didn't

matter what came against me how long it

took the difficulties and delays with

perseverance with defiance in the face

of everything that would say that it

should get there The snail reached the

ark Why Not because of anything

significant in the snail itself but

because God said "We're not leaving

until that snail makes it through." And

so you've got to understand for the

believer in Jesus Christ endurance and

perseverance are critical values to the

believer Endurance and perseverance are

critical values to the believer to hold

a position or push towards a vital

position that is worth the endurance

that is worth the perseverance where you

can realize endurance and perseverance

is not just that God brought me to this

place but he's bringing me through it

regardless of the difficulties and the

delays that are going to come with it He

didn't just bring me to this place He's

bringing me through How many of us in

here know that the word through is a

word for a worshipper Through is a word

for a worshshiper Through is what God

does He will bring the people of God

through the Red Sea He's going to bring

the people of God through the valley of

the shadow of death Isaiah would say

that he's going to bring you through the

waters and that the rivers are not going

to overwhelm you He's bringing you

through the fire and that the flame is

not going to scorch you that the fire is

not going to burn you That through is

the word of a worshshiper because it's

through it that you behold blessing You

cannot behold a blessing by simply

getting to a place It is through it that

you will what Stay long enough to see it

That you will stay long enough to see

what it is that God's doing in you and

what it is that he's desiring for you

And I say that to you today to stoke

someone's faith because you feel like he

brought you to it and he's bringing you

through it But it's with perseverance

and endurance that you got to get

through it What's God doing He's making

you a stalward in strength that you

might realize God's got a place for me

but I got to go through this junk right

now I'm going through it And so what we

see is that he says endurance and

perseverance are critical in the life of

the believer because you got to endure

and you got to stand But then he also

mentions trials and

tests uh you you got to endure the trial

you got to stand the test In the

original language trial and test it

could also be translated as temptation

though that would kind of be the back

half of what the word means It kind of

has a dual meaning But but really it

does mean trial It does mean testing But

what it also indicates insinuates is

that with a trial and a test there are

pressures that will end up mounting as a

result of it You ever been in a trial

and you felt like I think the temptation

that's coming after the trial is more

difficult than the

trial I I think the temptation around

this thing is more brutal It it

literally means pressures associated

with the trial that will help you

determine the quality of a person or a

thing in this case our faith So for

instance uh let's say that you are

dealing with great trials in your life

and that trial is hot water uh that

you're dealing with the trial of hot

water And because you're dealing with

this trial of hot water family issues uh

that you're dealing with relationship

issues marital issues trials uh in some

really key things and areas in your life

in your business uh hypothetically

speaking people at other churches have

issues with their churches but none of

you guys do which is fantastic news here

And so uh like what we see is that you

can be dealing with trials and and you

kind of have two options Like you can

sit in it you can endure and persevere

or you could do what a lot of people do

with a bag and hot water is you can

just dunk

it And you realize uh I don't like the

trial Uh and so I I want to avoid those

people Um I I don't want to be uh in a

church that's going to tell me things

that I don't like to hear Uh I I I don't

I don't want to be uh with people that

have differing preferences than me I I

actually want to make those people feel

like they're evil because they don't

have the same thoughts that I do Uh I I

I actually want to jump out of the

marriage because I think that somebody

else other than the person that God gave

me is going to somehow be sinless and

I'm going to be more compatible with

them I'm just not working hard enough

right now Uh that I want to live in

disobedience

You know what it's called when you leave

a bag in hot

water

Steeping You know what it's called when

you dip a bag in and out of hot water

Agitating I don't want to agitate the

blessing of enduring and persevering to

see what it is that God has for me and

is doing in me when I go through it

Steeping is believing If I had to choose

to take a drink of one of these I

wouldn't even have to think twice There

was more that was brought out of this

bag by staying in the trial than there

was by this one that dunked in and out

like that was a good

method Steeping is believing And you go

"Okay well that's great That doesn't

sound fun at all So can we move on from

that?" Sure we absolutely can And what

you're going to find is that it says

"For those that do that receive the

crown of life." but not just that you

receive the crown of life that you will

because it's something that God promised

to those who love him The crown that's

being described here is a wreath You've

probably seen in in old photos or or or

paintings a demonstration of a wreath of

foliage that would go around the head of

an individual that had been uh

successful in athletic games or they had

ended up doing something that was

exemplary for the state made some kind

of crazy contribution But what we're

talking about here is not the perishable

wreath like Paul would say Uh but we're

actually talking about something

different We are talking about the crown

of life It's not a perishable wreath and

it's also not literal It's a symbolic

representation of God's recognition of

how you spiritually triumph through

difficulties in your life How it is that

you end up triumphing in the face of

trial and temptation And what we'll

notice here is that it doesn't only say

hey for those of you that endure you're

going to do so and you're going to

receive prizes It's not just talking

about recognition It talks about your

motivation for endurance It says your

motivation for the endurance is that God

is promising this to those who love him

Love is the motivation for enduring

Because I love and trust you I will

endure Whenever I do a wedding there are

a couple absolutely critical vows that

you make people say Sometimes they want

to write their own bogus and then you

have to make them say stuff that's

meaningful And so when you make them say

stuff that's meaningful and it's not

just like you're so okay uh like that

stuff's going to fade in in five days So

let's let's get to the stuff And when

you get to the stuff one of the things

that you make people say to one another

is "I promise to forsake all others and

keep myself only to you." You set it in

front of the witnesses You set it in

front of God We're all going to hold you

accountable even if you don't like it

And you go "Well what does that matter?"

It matters for this reason I don't say

to couples do you promise to never find

yourself in any kind of compromising

position or any kind of difficulty or

struggle where trial and temptation

could try to actually break apart the

union that God has formed

today I don't say that

You're going to have things that want to

disrupt this But I need you to promise

to one another in front of me and all of

us that the love you're cultivating here

is going to remain stronger than the

dissension that tries to come against

you from out

there Do you promise that love will be

your motivating factor That's what we're

saying So hopefully that makes sense And

I got to step on this It says in verse

13 here "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 So the

translation that I'm reading is strong

It says "Let no one undergoing a trial

say I'm being tempted by God." But the

ESV actually translates it in in a way

that I think is more helpful for us

today It says "Let no one say when he's

tempted I'm being tempted by God." Both

are great but there's something

significant about reading that when he

is

tempted Everybody in here deals with

temptation Hands up Yep If if your hands

not up uh you you don't struggle with

temptation You struggle with lying So uh

like it's great We're glad you're here

It's a perfect place for you to unpack

that Um uh here here's here's what you

got to understand Like everyone deals

with it A and and and what is temptation

It's wanting to fulfill a legitimate

desire in an illegitimate way You can

have a legitimate desire I I have the

legitimate desire of being successful

which I know is like a bad word in

church for whatever God doesn't say my

good and successful servant I we get

that Like but but please don't be a

loser with the stuff he gave you Like

it's fine to maximize what he put in

your hands because the only time that we

see that someone buries their treasure

in the ground God has some words for him

So don't do that It's fine to have the

legitimate desire of wanting to be

successful An illegitimate way of

achieving the success that you desire to

have is by cooking the books that you

feel like you had a more successful year

than you actually did And you can appear

one way to other people that you're not

actually in real life and you should

have worked harder right A legitimate

desire uh would be that you have the

desire to relax You had a difficult week

Things were stressful You were up early

You were out late Things were hard But

an illegitimate way of fulfilling that

legitimate desire would be to say you

know what I'm gonna kill a couple of

bottles over the course of the next

couple of nights in isolation and hope

that I can numb these senses that I'm

feeling rather than go to my heavenly

father for the rest that he promises

That would be fulfilling a legitimate

desire in an illegitimate way You could

have the legitimate desire uh of wanting

to have

sex Men you here uh like uh that like

you can have a legitimate desire for

that right An illegitimate way of

fulfilling that would be saying "I just

feel like I'm not getting anything that

I need from my wife right now And so you

know what I'm going to do I'm I'm going

to go out and pursue that with someone

who's not my spouse."

illegitimate Take the trash out cook a

meal do something right Work harder Get

it Y'all are acting so uncomfortable

We're talking about temptation You think

sex wasn't going to come up Like come on

now Like and like look I get it It's

tough out there sometimes you know I

have to say all the time "Babe can we go

on a date first I'm tired tonight." Like

I get it You know like we know what

we're talking about

But you

see temptation is wanting to fulfill a

legitimate desire in an illegitimate way

And so what do we do with that Because

honestly that's

frustrating But come on God Are we

serious right now I don't like this Like

one of the most difficult things that I

find in talking to people about their

faith their greatest frustration is that

they found in their salvation God didn't

erase their temptation It didn't just go

away I've heard incredible stories about

how God has removed some things from

people's life And that's amazing But by

and large that's just not what he does

often that you put your faith in Jesus

Christ before you ever had to wait until

he comes back and every knee will bow

and every tongue will confess You're

like I bow and confess right now I know

that I'm a sinner in need of a savior

And I have no problem bowing in the

presence of my king and calling you Lord

But there was something in you And for

whatever reason there's still something

in you that feels like he was just going

to anoint you with struggle be gone That

you're just going to start floating and

giving people advice and having life

figured out And your struggles got

harder And you're like "What gives Why

is this harder Are you kidding me?" And

the issue is that we have

misunderstood how God moves in struggle

and what it is that God has even

promised or not promised At no point in

Jesus ministry did he promise you will

never struggle

again He didn't say that He said you

will no longer be a slave to sin and

struggle that you will have the power of

the Holy Spirit on the inside of you to

resist where you previously couldn't At

no point did Jesus ever say "Hey you

know what You're never going to feel

overwhelmed." All he said is that in the

end you won't be overwhelmed because I

have overcome And he said "You're going

to have to make war on sin and struggle

in your life You got to make war on it

and act like it's and acting like it's

not a thing is not going to be helpful."

that we see that there are many of us

that think that when we put our faith in

Jesus he said that now you're free from

struggle And really he said you're free

to struggle You're free for the battle

Like we ain't talking about armor of God

because you're not going to be in a

fight Like nobody puts on armor that

they don't intend to use Like you're in

a battle You got to make war on this

stuff But why is it so difficult The the

way I think about it is that previously

in your life you you didn't think like

this but now that you put your faith in

Jesus you know what you're sailing from

and who it is that you're sailing

towards And that makes it harder

Previously the winds of temptation could

fill your sails and you would ride the

wave of sin wherever it is that it takes

you And you didn't really care But then

you put your faith in Jesus and you

realized I'm riding a wave towards

destruction and I need to not go that

way I need to actually fight upstream

And Jesus is like "You're right but I'm

not promising that the waves are going

to go away You're going to sail against

the waves rather than with them." And

that's difficult So what do we do with

that Well if we've got a map of how it

is that we're going to navigate struggle

and sin and temptation and trial and all

the things we got to know that trials

are coming We've already talked about

that But how do you navigate the

temptation And what we see is that James

is going to make sure that we understand

hey the source of your

temptation you don't need to know where

it's from before you need to know where

it's not from He says let me tell you

where it's not from No one in a

trial in dealing with temptation should

say "I'm being tempted by God." He makes

an elimination before an association Do

you see that He He's saying "God's not

going to tempt you but he'll test you."

which can feel like a copout for some of

you but but just hold up for a second

He's he's not going to tempt you but he

is going to test you And what is what

does that look like Well God will allow

he'll even send trials into your life

for a beneficial purpose of developing

things within you and producing things

within you Pruning is difficult and yet

it allows you to bear more fruit And so

we see that he will do that but he's not

going to seduce you or solicit you to

sin because sin is open rebellion

against God He's not going to bring you

into open rebellion against him but he

will use trials in your life He will

test you but he will not tempt you And

so we understand Satan will tempt you to

bring the worst out of you God will test

you to develop things within you We know

this is true But some of us could easily

say "Okay well what about the sermon on

the mount and lead us not into

temptation but deliver us from evil

What's that all about It seems like he's

implying that he could lead us there or

that he doesn't have to lead us there

And that doesn't that doesn't actually

mean that he's saying "Hey don't lead us

into temptation Lead us out of it." It's

saying "Don't allow us to go into any

kind of trial where the temptation's

going to overtake us We don't want to

sin We don't want to fall into that We

want to make sure that we have the

character and the strength to endure."

And we see that God will do this all the

time He will test but he doesn't tempt

He'll test Joseph He'll give him a dream

but he will not tempt him to arrogantly

say "Hey brothers come around Campfire

time Hey did you know that you guys are

all going to bow down to me?" That's in

Joseph Uh he he doesn't do that with

Moses He'll test Moses He'll say "Hey I

need you to bring an enslaved nation

into the wilderness They're going to get

thirsty at some point I'm going to

provide water in a rock and whenever I

tell you to you can bring the water

forth from the rock." But we don't see

that God will tempt Moses to in his

anger and frustration smack the rock

ahead of time so that the water pours

out That's something that's in Moses And

I say that to you because what we see is

that God is going to make sure that we

understand that all of these things that

we tend to deal with that we like to

point our our sin is your fault or this

is your fault or that it's your fault

It's other people's fault It's God's

fault He's saying "Hey don't look

outward son Look

inward Look in." He says in verse 14

"Each person is tempted when he is drawn

away and enticed by his own evil

desire It's the source of your

temptation You me us Isn't that great

It's us It's our fault See you next

week." Like like like that's us And

what's interesting though is is he helps

us understand And he says "Those of you

that are drawn." The word drawn in the

original language it means to leave a

safe uh safe place to retreat from a

safe place a place that you should stay

you leave But then what's interesting is

he doesn't just say that you're drawn

away In that sense he also says that

you're being enticed The word literally

means that you're being

lured You're being lured He's using a

fishing metaphor that you are being

drawn away from a place that you should

remain That you're being lured And at

the same time you're being baited by the

brokenness inside each one of you inside

of me And so what we see is that he's

saying you've got to know what does that

mean for you What grabs your

attention What is it What's the

brokenness in you that lures you out

from a safe place And that can entice

you that can hook you where the hooks of

sin can sink into you You shouldn't have

to think about it too long that there

are some of you that are like "Well I I

mean truth be told you you have the

desire to be

known." No Okay Uh some of you you have

the desire to be known I know this this

is probably in a raise your hand type of

time Uh but you desire to be known And

so anytime you get an opportunity to

have influence you gravitate towards the

people that have it You want to be in

their circles You want to be around them

You want other people to know that you

are around them You want to find

yourself with that desire of wanting to

be known being lured by this lure of

influence but you don't realize that

behind it is a hook called pride that

will sink you No Okay Uh there are some

of you um you're you're a relentless

people

pleaser You just want everyone to like

you You'll agree with stuff you you like

completely disagree with I mean some of

you borderline people would be like "Man

I just I just think Christianity is a

sham." And you're like "It might be I

don't like you just want everyone to

like you." It's like we don't really

know do we Like you just will do that

You'll just agree with groups of people

They could be putting someone down that

you like and you have the ability to

kind of jump in there and make it

funnier and you get lured by that People

are going to like me if I do this And

you get hooked by the sin of

gossip You You could be someone who

desires romance

You you've been to like 10 weddings none

of which are

yours A and you want romance so bad that

you will get lured at that 10th wedding

to some creepy guy that wants to just

talk And you're just like I guess this

loser will do because I'm sick of being

alone And you get hooked by the sin of

settling and you date someone who's

morally beneath your standards all

because you're not like it happens

Temptation will always bring with it a

lure that appeals to your broken desires

And it will hide behind it the hook of

sin and consequence that you just don't

see And what we see is that your

homework is that you've got to know what

is that for you It's not really one of

those well I don't know It's like no no

no Like ask other people They'll know Uh

like we all know There's a couple things

that you might have in you that you know

but like we know We know Just ask It's

great Confession Sunday Like it'll be

great That's a great way to make room

Confession Sunday is coming up Like

that's what you do You know says "Then

after desire has conceived it gives

birth to sin And when sin is fully grown

it gives birth to death." This is

supposed to bother us This is supposed

to be problematic and disturb us This is

risque uh sexual and pregnancy imagery

It saying you're being lured by your

desire And when you're lured by your

desire you jump into bed with it You

conceive You You give birth to sin And

sin grows up and it brings forth death

And this process that's supposed to

bring life brings death And that's

supposed to bother you But James isn't

just going to leave it there and be like

"And so we're all we're all in a world

of hurt Goodbye everyone." Uh he he he

makes us understand here Hey you've got

to notice that temptation isn't a wall

that you can't get around It's not a

wall that you can't scale It's a window

you need to look through And he's saying

when you find yourself dealing with

temptation just pause for a moment and

look where does it lead It's it's not

insurmountable Where does this go If you

end up pursuing this desire that you're

being lured by if you jump into bed with

this what what are the next steps Right

You you isolate again You call those

people again You you jump back in uh to

a group of people that only tell you

what you want to hear You end up calling

somebody who's not your spouse You end

up uh looking at pornography when you're

on a business trip because you feel like

you deserve it after you've been working

so hard Uh like you you find yourself

doing things that you can very easily

see through and the question is are you

looking through it Because with each

step that you take towards any kind of

direction that's not the one that the

Lord called you to the destination's

death And so we have to be a people that

go what is it and be clear with yourself

that gets you How and where does it get

you

I don't have time for this but one of

the funniest things a pastor ever said

in a message of all time to me when I

was in college is he was talking to a

group of guys and he was talking to this

all all men's like a room bigger than

this of all men And he was saying that

there's a lot of guys that he'll talk to

that deal with pornography And whenever

he's talking to those guys he'll be like

"Tell me how how does it get you Where

does it get you?" And they're like "Man

it's like on my phone." And he's like

"Okay where's your phone?" Uh he's like

"Well I mean it's usually on me." He's

like "Okay and when does this usually

become a problem?" They're like "Well at

night." And he's like "Okay where do you

put your phone?" They're like "Right

here." And he's like "And where do you

sleep?" And he's like "Right

here." And he goes "Are you are you

serious?" They're like "Well it's my

alarm clock." And he's like "Well get an

alarm

clock There's still

things." Like "Well I don't know I just

said," He's like "Get an make war on

this stuff What are we doing?" He He's

like "That's the equivalent of an

alcoholic pouring a glass of bourbon at

night and going I'm not going to think

about it That's

dumb And that's the way that we deal

with our

temptations Stop going

there Get off your phone at night Like

make war on this stuff If you're looking

for a church that's not going to talk

about this stuff then leave Like you got

to get serious about this It will hinder

your walk with him and you'll stay stuck

in a cycle that you blame other people

for and it's really your own fault

because you refuse to make war on the

same junk over and over Make war on that

stuff What do you need to do How is it

that it gets you Because the truth of

the matter is if you wait till the

moment of temptation you're done You're

done Temptation's favorite tactic is

ambush And if you wait till the moment

where you're tempted you're sunk

If you got to make a reactive decision

in your flesh that you didn't make

proactively in the spirit then you find

yourself in a world of hurt So what do

you do What do you do And I don't have

time for this but we have to do it So

James 1:16 says "Don't be deceived."

James 1:16

Don't be deceived my dear brothers and

sisters What does that mean I It means

that there are people that in trials

dealing with temptations have felt like

in their trial and temptation God's not

good God's not here for me God doesn't

care God is just leaving me in all of

this and I don't know what to do with it

And James now is going to bring

clarification to God's methods And he's

going to bring vindication to God's ways

by making it clear to us who God is

Watch what this says James 1:16 and 17

James 1:16

says "Every good and perfect gift is

from above coming down from the father

of lights who does not change like

shifting shadows." James 1:16 is not

James 1:16

followed in the way that you would think

it is

He goes "Oh all s trials are hard

Temptation is bad." Da da da And then he

says 'do not be

deceived And you would think that he

would follow it up and say "So don't be

deceived about trial and temptation

people Sin's bad Satan hates you." He

doesn't do that though He doesn't go

into how bad the author of temptation is

He goes into how good your father is He

doesn't point downstream He points

upstream

He he

says the issue with many of us is not

that we think temptation is going to

lead us someplace that's not bad All of

us in here don't really struggle

realizing that You know that temptation

will ultimately lead to a bad place

That's not the problem The problem is

that you don't think that your father's

going to lead you to a better

place Every parent in this room knows

this and anyone who's got good parents

knows this Your dad is going to lead you

to better places than your broken

desires

will He

will Temptation and the desires that are

luring and enticing you are never going

to lead to a more beautiful

destination than the place that your dad

intends to bring you It says "Every good

and perfect gift everything that you

delight in and that is lacking nothing

things that you don't even think about."

When you walk outside and you feel the

sun kissing your face and you're like

"It is a beautiful day." At least for

the next couple months it is a beautiful

day When you find yourself eating

something and you're just like "How can

flavors feel this way?" It's like God

did that for your enjoyment

all these good and perfect gifts that

are lacking nothing And then it says

coming down from the father of lights

That's a weird term for God Why is it

saying that It's saying God created

everything All of these things that like

you didn't you didn't do to earn or

desert Like all of these good and

perfect gifts are coming down from the

father of lights the one who spoke light

into the world He did that

We need to have more trust in the

steadiness of our father's love than we

do in the flakiness of our own broken

desires Which is easier said than done

Some of you are like "Are why are you

like passionate like this I I've been

this this thing's been beating me up all

week." Sometimes we can focus whenever

we find ourselves in habits This is this

is this is the issue of the Christian

Now when you find yourself in broken

patterns of desire and sin what we often

want to do immediately is hone our

habits I got to change my habits I got

to change my habits And what you find is

that as you're trying to change all your

habits you might do good at that And

then the second that one of them ends up

breaking or you fall back into an old

pattern you feel like your dad hates you

And the problem is that changing your

habits is

fine But changing the pathway of trust

is better Do you believe that he's got

better for you than those desires do

Because if you keep constantly trying to

change your habits you can do that But

inevitably when you fall back into

something you could find yourself in a

place where you're like I failed him

again Focus more on his love of you than

you are about you performing well for

him It

says by his own choice he gave us birth

by the word of truth so we could be a

kind of first fruits of his creatures

first fruits of his creatures could be

James talking to Jewish Christians It

could be him talking to us There's lots

of debate Here's what's not a

debate What your dad desires for you is

more desirable than what your desires

desire for

you And when you get to the absolute

baseline of it you can go when I'm

dealing with trial and temptation I know

that my father has better for me than

this

They say the best way to get a bone out

of a dog's mouth is to throw it a steak

So here's a stake The God who made the

world and wired it and made you and

wired you knows how to fulfill your

legitimate desires in legitimate ways

better than your temptations and desires

do But if you keep making space for

temptation to have a word it will take

it And so you want to be a person that

says "Hey there's no shame in this

place." You I mean you could throw your

hand up about anything that you're

dealing with No

shame But you've got to get to a place

of going "His love of me is more

important than how I'm performing for

him." And when you experience the love

of God in that way through Christ Jesus

and the sacrifice that he made then all

of a sudden everything else falls into

place Everything else falls into place

Lord I ask

that first I just want to say is is

there anyone that's just getting

absolutely destroyed by temptation Every

head bowed please just just would you

put your hand up and you're like I feel

like I just can't get it right I just

feel like I can't get it

right Listen I I I there's there's no

way there's one person Get your hand up

if that's you I mean you want to get you

want to get free or you want to stay

stuck Yeah it's fine It's fine

Great God you see these hands I thank

you for the boldness God I ask right now

that you would just radically intervene

in a practical way in their life That

they would make no provision for the

flesh Father That they would seek you

and be reminded of your great love above

all

else God I pray that you would reward

their boldness in this moment

If there's anyone in here Lord that's

never put their faith in you and so they

keep trying and failing and falling and

struggling and sinning and not knowing

what to do with that and if they're

realizing it's not leading anywhere I

ask that right now anyone under the

sound of my voice that wants to put

their faith in Jesus Christ would just

say "Right now I want to turn and repent

of my

sins I want to follow you Lord I believe

that Jesus Christ lived the perfect life

that I could not Died the death that I

deserved on the cross That his blood

covers my sins past present and future I

believe he was buried in a tomb for

three days and that he rose to life

again And because of his life I can have

life in his name And Lord would they

seek us out in the prayer room after

this might walk through those next steps

that they would come down front Lord

would we be a people that flood altars

with real struggles rather than people

that come in here and fake it hoping

that we'll get better by never asking

for

help Lord we love you We praise you and

we thank you We ask this in Jesus name

Amen