Resilient: It's Tempting

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All right.

Well, this morning I'm excited.

We're kicking off this series called Resilient.

We'll actually be spending the next four weeks in this idea of being a resilient people.

In fact, the people of God, the church, has always been resilient in times of crisis.

And it has to do back to our solid foundation that we have in Jesus.

And really, this idea of resiliency, just the definition, is the ability to withstand or recover from a difficult situation.

And isn't that what we need right now?

The ability to withstand in this season or to recover in this difficult situation.

Well, we're diving back into the book of James.

And here's what's great about the book of James.

I love James, and it's an incredibly practical book, but you might not understand that they were in the midst of their own COVID reality as well, that he's writing to.

See, James is the half-brother of Jesus.

He didn't come to really believe in Jesus until after the resurrection.

And after that, he became the leader of the church in Jerusalem.

Well, the church in Jerusalem started experiencing intense persecution.

Stephen was stoned right there in the city and killed.

And then a wave of persecution from Jerusalem began to spread and hit the followers of Jesus.

And so these followers now, instead of being all located in Jerusalem, worshiping together in their homes, they had their own shelter-in-place reality where they couldn't gather, but they were scattered, they were separated, and they were actually had their entire life upended.

And now instead of finding community, they were now being ostracized and isolated and alone.

And this is the letter.

In fact, the very first letter and writing we have of the New Testament is written about 40 to 45 AD, just about 10 years or so after the resurrection of Jesus.

This is the letter in the context that James is writing to us in our COVID reality of how to be resilient in the face of difficult situations, in the face of storms.

In fact, next week we're going to look at resiliency in light of, you know, how do you respond to destructive emotions?

And part three, we're going to look at resiliency and our response to God's word.

Part four then is like, okay, what does everyday life resiliency really look like?

How do we live this out?

And this morning's so important.

I hope you just set down the distractions for a few minutes and you just tune in and keep your eyes focused and your heart attentive, because I think this is really an important sermon today.

We're talking about resiliency in the face of temptation.

See, one of the biggest things that will determine your resiliency in this situation is how you respond to temptation.

One of the biggest things that will determine your resiliency, your ability to withstand this difficult situation, your ability to bounce back is how you respond to temptation.

And isn't it true?

Isn't it true that everything seems to be magnified right now?

Like maybe it's with your marriage and the problems in your marriage now, in light of this shelter in place, reality has been magnified, hasn't it?

Maybe it's uh emotional stuff in your life that you're wrestling with, and maybe you have anxiety or some of these sort of things, and and it just magnifies it.

Maybe there's habits in your life that um are bad habits, and they have been magnified.

And it's true, isn't it true that temptations have been magnified?

We're no longer, you know, have the things that keep us, you know, so focused and driven.

And for some, the temptations have that once were minor or not a big of a deal, have now become overwhelming, haven't they?

Or they have taken over for some your life.

And so we want to wrestle with this question today.

What do I do when temptation knocks?

What do you do when temptation knocks at your door?

Why?

Because temptation's knocking way more often, it seems, in this season.

I remember when I was a young man, especially as a college student, um, I really battled with lust.

And it's not like I've don't battle with it today, it's just a different battle now.

But I remember being so defeated, and I wrestled with this because I what I found in my own life is the minute I gave way in a moment, maybe you've had this experience, the minute I gave way in a moment to lust, it it just felt like that backslide became a landslide.

Like I just gave way in that moment, and it wasn't just that moment, but it was the after effects.

It was like I took that step forward, and then all of a sudden everything else fell down uh behind me, and it just felt like I just became got caught up into a whole world, and then I would feel so guilty and bad, and be but I'd be stuck in it, and then finally I'd be going to God help, and I'd do and I'd go through this cycle and I'd just be have this backslide become a landslide.

So I started to ask this question how do I keep a backslide from becoming a landslide in my life?

How do you keep a backslide from becoming a landslide?

James is gonna give us four things that that are gonna help us respond to temptation, to be resilient in the face of temptation.

If you got your Bibles, would you open them up to James chapter 1, verse 13?

James 1:13

James chapter 1, verse verse, uh there we go.

James 1 · chapter mention

Verse 13.

Uh James is gonna tell us, okay, what do I do when temptation knocks?

The first thing he's gonna say is recognize the source of temptation.

Hey, hey, pay attention, recognize the source or the root of it.

Listen to what he says.

When tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me.

No one should say, when I'm in the middle of that moment, God, you're tempting me, you're behind this.

Why?

For God cannot be tempted by evil.

It's impossible for God to be corrupted.

He's morally pure by evil.

He can't be tempted, nor does he tempt anyone.

It's not in his nature to put anything in front that would cause you to stumble.

But each person is tempted when they are dragged away.

Underline that word if you got your Bible or highlight it maybe in your phone.

Dragged away by their own evil desires.

Would you go ahead and circle own evil desires?

But each person is dragged away by their own evil desires and entice.

And go ahead and underline that word, entice.

How do I keep a backslide from becoming a landslide?

James is going to say first we have to recognize the source of temptation.

But before we talk about the source of temptation, let's talk about the nature of temptation.

The nature of temptation, James actually uses two words here that give us great understanding into what temptation really is.

He uses the word I had you underline, dragged away and then enticed.

These are words taken from the hunting and fishing arena.

Dragged away is the trap set by a um a hunter that's you know getting out in the woods and he's gonna disguise it and set a trap to catch his prey, and then entice is the word of a fishing lure.

And I think this gives us such profound insight into temptation.

In fact, I got a couple lures here for you.

My buddy Connor brought these for me.

I don't know if you can see it at all, but here I'll get it close enough.

I don't know if even that helped.

But these lures here.

So let me let's just talk about temptation for a second.

Okay, he gives the picture of a lure and says, Okay, temptation is just like this lure, meaning, first, it's handcrafted for your desires.

This lure was crafted and created for a certain type of fish.

And it's going to be put in the water and it's crafted.

Maybe it's a bass or maybe it's a trout.

Obviously, I'm not a fisherman, so I don't know.

But what's interesting, what's interesting is there's a bunch of lures out there.

This is a different type of lure to attract different types of fish.

And this is, he's saying, you know what?

There are temptations out there that are handcrafted specifically for your desires.

It's made to go, hey, if this doesn't get you, and all of us have just a little bit different lure that's attractive.

And for some, you might be wrestling, it might be a temptation for you that isn't for another person.

And it's going like, okay, there's a tackle box, if you will, that the our spiritual enemy has that he wants to just throw these lures in front of you.

The second is if you notice about a lure, is it's designed, um, it's really designed to be attractive and appealing.

Can we just say that about temptation?

Because I think sometimes, you know, we kind of look like, oh, I shouldn't, or what?

Well, it's designed to be tasty.

A fish bites into this because it looks attractive and it's appealing.

It's like, oh my gosh, it's got all this silvery stuff that catches your eye that makes you go, I want to throw cash in the wind and try that out.

It looks tasty.

The second thing, if you notice about a lure, is it looks and moves like the real thing.

See, it tricks a fish.

And so this is actually another minnow or whatever that is bait.

It's moving in the water in a way that looks and moves like the real thing.

And that's the subtlety and this deception of temptation is it looks and moves like the real thing.

And it offers what it can't make good on.

And here's the final thing: all temptation comes with these hooks.

They all come with a catch.

See, it's handcrafted for your desire, it's appealing and attractive.

It looks and moves like it's the real thing, but it's fake.

It's not really going to satisfy, it's not ultimately going to gratify.

And it comes with these hooks that the minute you bite into it, it sinks deep into your soul.

He says, This is the nature of temptation.

And I think it's important, the reason why James starts here on temptation is because we're most vulnerable in three different arenas in our life to temptation.

We're most vulnerable to temptation when we're tired.

A lot of you are tired right now, aren't you?

Parents, I know you're exhausted as you're trying to do work and you're trying to help educate your kids.

I know people's work has been off the chart and we're running around and just you're tired of the way things are going.

When we're tired emotionally, when we're tired physically, when we're when we're tired spiritually, we're vulnerable.

We're vulnerable when we're isolated and alone.

And we're literally isolated right now.

And so we have to be alert, we have to be aware that we're we're vulnerable.

That's why we need community.

We're going to talk more about that in a minute.

And we're vulnerable when we're stressed.

And what we do when we're stressed is we often shift from the things in our life that are life-giving or nourishing to things that are numbing, just to kind of like take the pain away.

See, James says we need to recognize the source of temptation.

Well, that's a little bit about the nature of temptation.

What is the source?

Did you notice it?

I had you circle it.

He says, our desires.

It's our desires.

He says, at the end of the day, it's actually inside of us, there's a broken reality inside of us, and that's the root issue.

And our human tendency since the beginning of time is to blame others for our own sin.

You're like, yeah, there might have been a lure out there, but at the end of it, it's me that wanted to bite into it.

It's me that responded to it.

And what we do is we cast blame.

It's been happening since the garden.

Adam did this, and he was confronted with his sin before God and says, you know, as he, you know, took from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

And God asked him, you know, who told you that you're naked?

Did you eat this?

And he says, The woman you gave me.

You see how he blamed God for his sin?

And ultimately, anytime we don't take responsibility, we actually end up blaming God.

A lot of times I hear it this way.

Well, God just made me this way.

This is just who I am.

God just made me this way.

And so, you know what?

Life's really difficult.

So I'm entitled to do whatever I want in this season just to make it a little bit more pleasurable.

And we just put blame out there.

And he says, no, no, no.

If you want to be resilient in this season, you first have to recognize the source of temptation.

He says, We have no one to blame.

We have no one to blame.

You can't blame God, you can't put it on anyone else.

We have no one to blame.

It's our broken desires.

We have to accept responsibility.

As long as you keep blaming, you will not gain victory over your temptation, friends.

As long as you keep blaming and say it's out there, it's over them, then you will never experience the victory God has for you.

And so he says, no, no, recognize, recognize the source of temptation and say, I'm going to take responsibility.

I have nobody to blame.

And then he says, address the progression of temptation.

And he says this, then after desire has conceived, watch this progression.

It gives birth to sin.

And sin, when it's full grown, gives birth to death.

Desire, sin, death.

Desire, sin, death.

Now it's important for some of you, you need to hear this.

When desire is conceived, when you're first tempted, when that lure is just set out there, that's not sin.

Some have believed a lie, and you get you end up in that backslide to landslide because the minute you get tempted, you feel defeated.

And and and so already you're like, well, I might as well go all the way.

No, no, no, no, no, stop.

There's a progression.

Recognize the progression.

When you're tempted, that's not sin.

Sin is when you act on that temptation.

Sin is there's desire, and then there's you act on that, that's sin.

And then what happens is if you allow sin to grow, if you allow it to build in your life, ultimately what it will produce or what it will give way to is death.

It will kill you, it will keep you from who you're made to be, and it will destroy the relationships around you.

And here's what happens.

Our natural, our natural is to dismiss or diminish sin, to act like it's no big deal.

We say that.

We go, well, it's not that big of a deal.

It's not hurting anyone.

It's just what I need to get through this.

He says, okay, but would you say that when sin is full grown, when it becomes its adult version, which means it takes time and it's a process, and it starts small, and we feel like it's under control and it's just kind of hidden, it's kind of secret, and then it grows and grows and grows, and then it's out of our control.

See, I think there's two important questions we need to ask here: the progression of sin and temptation.

What does this sin full grown look like in your life?

Maybe it's lust.

What does it full grown look like?

Maybe it's lying, maybe it's gossip, maybe it's cheating, maybe it's an addiction, and right now it's just like coping to get by in this season.

But what does it full grown look like?

And then the second question: what are the ultimate consequences?

When it's full grown, what are the ultimate consequences?

See, we buy into the myth that that could never happen to me.

That would never happen to me.

I'd never do that.

And the truth is, is that's the story of so many peoples whose lives have been broken and shipwrecked.

That could never happen to me.

I I learned so much from my dad growing up, and I remember him saying this because as a pastor, he saw other pastors who shipwrecked their life through moral failures.

And he never wanted his story to end that way, his ministry to be undermined.

And I remember him sharing, uh actually publicly teaching this uh as I was sitting listening to him, and and he would literally visualize this is what he said, he visualizes what the ultimate consequences of a moral failure would be.

And so he had visualized and walk this through of having to sit his kids down and go into them and go, and you know, I'm his kid, so uh and going to us and just going, hey, dad's not gonna be around, seeing the uh visualizing the consequences of his marriage, losing the ministry that it gave his life to build.

See, what happens is when we address the progression, we we all of a sudden become painfully aware of these hooks.

The shiny doesn't look so attractive anymore.

See, what do we do when temptation knocks?

We gotta recognize the source of temptation and then address the progression.

We we gotta move beyond the moments and just go, okay, where is this headed?

And then he's gonna go on to say, identify the lie and bring it into the light.

Identify the lie.

Like get clear on what is the lie that we're buying into, and then bring it into light.

That's why he says, and don't be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.

Don't be duped, don't buy into the lie.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

See, most of us, I think, are not clear about the lies that we believe or have bought into.

See, the root lie when it comes to temptation and the things we buy into is about God, his character, and his word.

If you go all the way back to the garden when the enemy, uh Satan, the serpent, was, you know, tempting Eve, there's two main things that he wanted to undermine.

He said, Did God really say you must not eat of the tree of knowledge, good and evil?

Did he really say it?

Wanting to undermine God's word.

But fundamentally, what the enemy wants to do is undermine the character of God.

God wants to keep you from the knowledge.

I think at the root for us of sin and brokenness and temptation is a belief that God isn't good.

It's always an attack on the goodness of God and that we can get good outside of God and his ways.

So he says, every good and perfect gift is from your heavenly father who loves you.

He wants, he does, he doesn't want to keep good from you.

He wants only the very best for you.

And and he's the father of heavenly lights.

Like bring it into the light.

He doesn't change like shifting shadows.

He's not changing his mind.

He's not inconsistent.

Think about the character of God just in this text alone that James is telling us.

One, that God cannot be tempted.

He's morally pure.

He doesn't tempt anyone, he's not putting things out to try to trip you up.

He wants the very best for you.

He's the giver of every good and perfect gift.

God doesn't change, he's absolutely consistent.

In fact, in the next verse, we're going to see, he is the giver of new life, not death.

See, sin bursts death, creates death.

He wants to give you life.

See, what we think is offering us a good and a way outside of God is actually creating great harm.

God says, No, I just want you to experience life.

And so and so identify the Lie.

It's always an attack on the character of God and then bring it into the light.

Nothing good grows in the dark, by the way.

Secrets keep you and I stuck.

As long as it stays a secret, you will remain a slave to it.

Nothing good grows in the dark.

You gotta bring it out into the light.

And that's why James was saying in 516 a little bit later on, he'd say, confess your sins one to another and pray for each other that you may be healed.

This is why we do community.

This is why in COVID reality, SIP, shelter in place, you can't afford not to do community.

That you need to sign up for that on that connection card.

You need to join us at one o'clock for our awakening virtual, you know, introduction so that you can engage, get into community.

You were never intended to do this life on your own.

And in community of believers who love you and are for you, you bring the real you and say, This is where I'm at.

Would you help me?

He says, in that process, God brings healing.

Would you identify the lie and bring it into the light?

Well, you're asking, well, I don't know what exactly to bring into the light.

Well, let me give you maybe a little litmus test.

Is there anything in your life that you wouldn't want your wife to find out about or your husband to find out about?

Is there anything in your life that you wouldn't want your parents to find out about?

Is there anything in your life that you wouldn't want your friends or your mentors to find out about?

We'll put it a little differently.

Is there anything in your life that you wouldn't want your pastor to find out about?

That's probably the areas where you'd say, Man, God, bring that into the light.

Get a trusted friend who loves Jesus who can walk with you through that.

And some, I think, just even as we're talking, I want to give a little word of hope in this moment.

Because I think if you're anything like me in that college kid, you just felt so defeated.

And you felt like this will never change.

You feel like you're the only one going through this.

And the apostle Paul would say in 1 Corinthians 10, 13, no temptation has overtaken you or seized you except what's common to mankind.

See, we've all been in this, we're all going through this.

We're all struggling.

And God is faithful.

He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.

He is faithful.

He's going to meet you right in that moment.

If you would just recognize instead of running from God in the middle of that moment, you bring him into it.

But when you're tempted, he'll also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

And it's often the community of God around you that is his way out for you.

Okay, so what do we do when we're when temptation knocks?

Recognize the source, address the progression, identify the lie, bring it into the light, and finally, we need to remember what is true of you in Christ Jesus.

You gotta remember, you gotta reorient your life back to what is fundamentally, foundationally true of you.

He says this, He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be kind, be a kind of first fruits of all He created.

He chose, think about this.

God chose you.

It wasn't just like, man, I I've just kind of got to be a part of this.

God says, I chose you to give you new birth.

So what God has done, you can't undo.

Have that confidence to give you new life through the word of truth, his gospel in you.

Well, you have a spiritual enemy who wants you to live in shame and guilt.

Here's how the enemy works, by the way.

He likes to set out the lure.

We're responsible for biting on it, but he likes to set it out, lure you, and go, hey, come on, get this.

And then you bite on it and you're like stuck and you're experiencing all the consequences, and you're like, ah! And then you know what he does?

The jerk.

He's a jerk.

Let's just say it.

He's a yeah, he's a jerk.

Because he's known as the accuser of the saints.

And so you know what he does is he entices you and you bite on it, and then he accuses you.

He goes, How could you?

What were you thinking?

Are you kidding me?

He accuses you, and he wants you to live in shame and guilt.

Romans 8.1 says, Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus.

See, the accuser is wanting to speak lies to you about who you are to keep you from running to your perfect heavenly Father who has every good gift for you.

He wants you to keep you hiding.

See, that's what Adam and Eve did in the garden.

The minute we blow it, we hide.

He says, Come out of hiding.

Come to your heavenly Father who loves you.

See, remember what's true of you in Christ Jesus.

What's true of you is not what the accuser says.

No, he's a jerk.

Stop listening to him.

What's true of you is that you are adopted into the family of God if you're a follower of Jesus.

What's true of you is you are a daughter and a son of the King Most High.

What's true of you is you have been completely forgiven.

There is no condemnation, there is no place for the accuser's word in your life.

What's true of you is you are loved unconditionally by a perfect, good, heavenly father.

That is what's true of you.

And by the way, that will keep a backslide from becoming a landslide.

How do you, you know, um have resiliency in the face of uh temptation?

Friends, you gotta get back to what's true of you in Christ Jesus.

I love this quote by John Bunyan.

On Easter Sunday, my kids and I, or a family religion, had us.

We watched the Pilgrim's Progress movie, which was great.

Um, and he writes this in his autobiography.

He says, I never saw those heights and the depths in grace and love and mercy as I saw after this temptation.

Did you catch that?

I never saw those heights and depths in grace and love and mercy as I saw after this temptation.

Great sin, he says, draw out great grace.

And where guilt is most terrible and fierce, there the mercy of God in Christ, when shown to the soul, appears most high and mighty.

Great sin draws out great grace.

I like how Tim Keller says it about the gospel.

He says, the gospel is this we are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the same time, yet at the same time, we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.

Remember, remember, get back.

Would you get it in your heart?

Would you remind yourself the minute the accuser's speaking, you're like, no, that's a lie, you're a jerk, shut up.

Get what's true of you in your heart and your mind.

I remember the turning point for me in my battle with lust as a college student.

That idea of shame that that was a reality for me.

See, shame says this: not that you failed, but you are a failure.

It becomes your identity.

Not that you, you know, are made a mistake, but you you are a mistake.

And my identity started to become that I'm a failure.

This is who I am, and I'll never change.

And I began to have such dark thoughts, like the world might just be better without me.

And it was this heart uh ache, broken moment.

And the turning point was actually a dream I had.

And I remember having this dream, and uh, in my dream, I was walking into my dorm room, and as I opened the door, the room was pitch black, and there was an eight-year-old child.

It was me as a kid, an eight-year-old me, blonde-haired, scrawny, and the room's completely black, but the computer's on, and all you can see is the blue hue of the computer on the kid's face.

And I remember in the dream going, like, no, no, don't go there, don't reach out.

You have no idea, you don't understand the hooks that are awaiting you that are gonna get into you, and the heartache and the pain.

And it was the first time that I finally saw myself a little bit the way God sees me, not as a screw up or as a failure, but as this kid.

Not that he was mad at me or down on me, but that his heart broke for me.

And is in that moment where then I finally said, Okay, God, I'm gonna run to you and bring all of me to you.

And for many, this moment is a moment for you to see yourself, not with the words that you've defined, but how your father sees you and to bring all of you to him.

Would you do that in this moment, Heavenly Father?

I pray for my friends.

God, I pray right now, in this moment, that this would be a turning point moment in their life, that this message is one, God, that would that would save so many people, heartache and pain as they began to go down paths and they began to dabble in areas that one day full grown would cause such devastation and pain.

God, would you show them how you see them, that they're fully loved?

Would we turn to our perfect, good heavenly Father?

In Jesus' name.

Amen.