“The Source of Temptation” is a sermon that teaches us to ask God for help resisting temptation so that we do not sin against Him.

Key verses:
James 1:13-16

James chapter 1, again James chapter 1, and we’ll read, tonight, verses 13 to 16. James 1:13-6, James writes:

James 1:13: “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:”

James 1:14: “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.”

James 1:15: “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

James 1:16: “Do not err, my beloved brethren.”

We’re talking tonight about the source of temptations, the source of tempt. Where do temptations come from? Well, the answer is actually given to us just in these few verses.

The Attractive Lure

Let’s talk a little bit about temptation itself. Temptation, the word “temptation,” means to put to the test or to put on trial. Now, the idea of temptation here in James chapter one is that we are lured toward sin in the same sense that a fisherman puts a lure on his line and casts it in the water. Now, they make different lures for different types of fish and different types of water and so forth. It’s very much a science.

The fisherman hopes that the lure will appeal to the appetite of the fish, and the fish will bite the lure. Now, the problem for the fish is that he sees something beautiful or shiny or tasty looking. He goes after it, but the problem for the fish is that the lure has a hook in it. I’ll come back to that thought in a second. The Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 10:13, wrote:

1 Corinthians 10:13: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

Now, Paul wrote after James, probably 20 years after James. Paul wrote that whatever temptation you have is common to man. What does that mean? That means that whatever is tempting you is also tempting other people. So, you may see a lure, and it’s attracting you. And even though you know it has a hook in it, that lure is still attractive. So, then, you are placed in a situation where you have to make a decision, a choice. You will bite that attractive lure, or you will move on with your life and ignore it. Now, that second one may not be so easy to do. That lure is attractive.

There are many differences between you and a fish to be sure, but one of the main differences is you know that the lure has a hook. The fish doesn’t know that. And you know that if you bite it, you’re likely to get hooked. Sometimes, the fish bites, and the hook doesn’t sit, but you’re likely to bite at that lure and get reeled in and end up in a situation you never wanted to be in.

Paul is telling us that the lure that is attractive to us is common to man. That means that there are people attracted to the same dangerous lure. So, what makes it dangerous? That hook. That hook because tied onto that hook, there’s a line, and holding that line at the other end, there’s a man. The lure, the hook, and the line all combine to invite the fish to dinner, except that the fish isn’t going to eat any dinner because the fish is the dinner.

You see, the whole idea of the lure is to reel that fish in, and the whole idea of temptation is the same thing: to reel you in and bring you to a place where you don’t want to be.

There’s an old saying. I don’t know who first said it, but it says sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and charge you more than you want to pay. That is certainly true.

So, what does that have to do with you all this about fish and so forth? You’re probably thinking I’m not a fish. Well, here’s what it has to do with you. 1 Peter 5:8-9, Peter says:

1 Peter 5:8: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”

1 Peter 5:9: “Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.”

What Peter is saying is the same thing Paul is saying. You’re going to resist temptation. You’re going to resist Satan because the temptation that you have is common. The same afflictions you have are in your brethren that are in the world. Peter is telling us what Paul is telling us. He’s telling us that the temptations that we have are not unique to us. They feel unique. “Well, I must be the only person in the world dealing with this.” You’re not. Whatever this is, whatever your temptation is, you’re not the only person dealing with it. There are temptations that you have and other people have.

A Way to Escape

Both Paul and Peter help us deal with our temptations. Paul says that God will not suffer or allow you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation, – and the word “with” there means right alongside the temptation. Here’s the temptation, and right alongside it, God will make a way to escape. The word “escape” means escape. It’s exactly what it means. Get out of the situation. Run away from it. Peter said we are to resist, steadfast in the faith.

James, a couple of chapters later, chapter 4:7-8 says:

James 4:7: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

James 4:8: “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”

So, the way to resist temptation is to, number one – understand that you’re not alone. The temptations that you have are the same temptations other people have. So, if other people have conquered that, you can also. Then you need to make that choice continually, whether or not you’re going to surrender your heart, your mind, and your desires to the Lord Jesus Christ. Submit yourself, therefore, to God. Submit yourself to God.

Number two – resist the temptation, not in your own strength, but Jesus will help you with that. We just sang that. It was a great lyric to that song. Ask the Savior to help you do that. Pray when you get into temptation. Resist the temptation, not in your own strength alone.

James says to resist steadfast in the faith. Resist through your faith in Jesus Christ. And then Paul says escape from it. That means running away just like Joseph ran away from Potiphar’s wife.

Now, you might be thinking, “Yeah, Joseph ran away, but he still went to prison.” And you’re right. That would help us understand a lot. Think about that story of Joseph. Joseph went to prison. What did he do wrong? Nothing.

Somebody didn’t like him, Potiphar’s wife. Because he didn’t do what she wanted him to do. So, she made up a story about him, and that story was believed, and he spent many years in prison. Now, folks, that happens. I’m not saying that no man is ever guilty of what she wanted him to do. Too many people are guilty of that, but Joseph wasn’t. I’m telling you, there are a lot of people in this world today who, if they don’t like somebody, will lie about them. They’ll make up things about them and convince people that it’s true and cause that person to get in a world of trouble. So, Paul writes to Timothy:

2 Timothy 2:22: “Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”

Draw an eye to God, and He will draw an eye to you. James says the closer you get to the Lord, the farther you’re going to get from temptation, and the closer you get to temptation, the farther you’re going to get from the Lord. So, what’s the situation? The situation is exactly what Paul said, “Follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart.” You will get closer to God.

Temptation Is Not From God

Now, all of this that I’ve just given you is as an introduction. Let’s take a look at the text tonight, beginning at verse 13. James writes, and he says, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God.” What James is telling us here is that the temptation to sin, the temptation to do evil, does not come from God. God never tempts you to do that which is evil.

So, if it doesn’t come from God, where does it come from? Well, James goes on to say, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.” So, God cannot be tempted with evil. Why not? He’s holy. He’s holy, and He cannot be tempted to do evil or sin. God never does anything wrong.

A lot of people accuse God of doing things wrong, but He never does anything wrong. He’s holy. And then it says, “Neither tempteth he any man.” The temptation to do that, which is a violation of the Word of God and of the will of God, does not come from God. God never puts something in your way to tempt you and see what you’re going to do with it. He never does.

“Well, what about Adam and Eve in the garden?” He didn’t tempt them. He gave them a warning. He said there’s one tree you do not eat of. He didn’t say let me make that as enticing as I can and set a trap for them. That’s not what He did. He said you’ve got all the fruit you want. You can have all of it. You can have as much of it as you want. It’s all yours, all of this garden, everything I’ve given you, it’s yours. Just leave that one tree alone. That wasn’t a temptation.

“Oh, preacher, don’t you know that when something’s off limits, that makes it tempting?” I realize that. A lot of people feel that way, and I do understand that, but I’m going to tell you there are reasons why things are off-limits. “Why was that off limits?” He said the day that you eat thereof, you should surely die. That one’s poisoned as far as you’re concerned.

Now, let me ask you a question. Should poison be put off limits? You think so. Do you ever buy a product, many times it’s a cleaning product or something else, and there’s a label on it that says, “Warning Keep Out Of Reach of Children.”?

You know, I’ve seen something. I wouldn’t give the brand name out here anyway, but I can’t remember the brand. But there’s a cleaning product, and I’ve seen it in stores. It’s in a plastic bottle, and you can see its color. It looks just like a bottle of juice. It really does. And I think, boy, what a bad idea that is. You take this cleaning product, and you make it look like something a child would want to try to drink. What should you do? Well, put it in an opaque bottle where they can’t see the color or change the color. Do something. Don’t make it tempting. Don’t make it look like something that’s good when it’s something that’s poison.

James says, “God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.” Temptation does not come from God. So, we know that temptation doesn’t come from God.

Lust Leads to Sin and Death

Somebody’s probably thinking, “But you still haven’t told us where it does come from.” And you’re right about that, but James is about to tell us. So, let’s read verse 13 again:

James 1:13: “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:”

James 1:14: “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.”

“But every man is tempted when he is drawn away.”  “Drawn away” – we’ll come back to that phrase in a minute. “Of his own lust, and enticed” – when is a man tempted? He’s “tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust.”

Now, this is a fact. We have to accept that every man is tempted to sin. Not every woman is, too. We say man here. We’re talking about mankind. We’re all tempted to sin, but that factual statement has not yet answered the question. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away. We’re drawn away, and the words or term “drawn away” here means pulled off the main path or pulled into his own lust or sinful desire.

So, where does temptation come from? From where does it originate? Is it with other people? Other people tempt you to sin? Well, sometimes they’ll try to do that. “Come on, try it. You’ll like it. Try it, you’ll like it. Oh, man, you got to do this. This is the best. You’ve never had an experience like this one. Hey, everybody’s doing it.” That’s the one that gets used on our young people a lot – everybody’s doing it. You know, that’s a lie. Everybody’s not doing whatever it is. Everybody’s not doing it. Is there anything you can name to fill in “it?” Everybody’s not doing it.

You know, when I was teaching in high school, students used to say, “Everybody’s doing it.” I’d say, “That’s not true. I’m not doing it.” Everybody’s not doing it. It’s just a lie. It sounds good. “Everybody’s doing it. I guess I better do it, too.” No, even if it were true, if everybody’s doing it, which it isn’t true, but if that were true, does that make it right? If everybody’s drinking poison, does that make it the thing to do? Now, a lot of people are drinking poison. There’s no question about that. Does that make it right? It doesn’t.

And I want to go a step further. I read that Abraham Lincoln said something to this effect; I’m not going to quote him because I don’t remember the quote exactly, but just because something’s legal doesn’t make it right. You need to keep that in mind. There are a lot of things that are legal that aren’t right.

So, we’re drawn away. We’re pulled off the main path. And temptation, we said, does it come from people? Does it come from Satan himself? Well, Mark 7:21-23, Jesus said:

Mark 7:21: “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,”

Mark 7:22: “Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:”

Mark 7:23: “All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”

Did you hear that list? That’s a pretty strong list of sins, and where does that all come from? Jesus said it comes from within. Within what? Within us. We do have a sinful nature ever since Adam and Eve ate that fruit, and they passed down the sin nature.

Romans 5:12: “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:”

We inherited that sin nature from our great, great, great granddaddy, Adam. That’s what Paul refers to as the old man in some of his epistles and some of his writing. But James says every man is tempted when he’s drawn away of his own lust and enticed.

Verse 15 tells us about a terminal procedure. “What do you mean a ‘terminal procedure’?” I mean a procedure that leads to death. Look at it. Let’s read 14 so that you get the flow of thought:

James 1:14: “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.”

James 1:15: “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

I compared temptation a while ago to a fishing lure, but here, James used the analogy of a seed that is planted. Lust, when it is conceived, “bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” Lust, when it hath conceived, when lust has been fertilized, and begins to bear fruit, it brings forth sin. It literally brings forth and gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is finished, gives birth to death. The wages of sin is death. The Bible says Adam and Eve were told, “The day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

When Believers Sin

But I want to stress something with you here. James is writing this to believers, not to unbelievers. “Now, isn’t it true that the unbeliever is lost in sin, and that’s going to bring them to death?” Absolutely true. But here, he’s writing to believers, and the Lord forgives the sins of those who He has saved. Let me say that again. The Lord forgives the sins of those He has saved. 1 John 1:9 says:

1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

John was writing to believers. James is writing to believers. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Now, some people have misused that verse, and I’ll tell you what I mean by that.

One day, I was having lunch with another pastor, and he brought up a man whom we both knew. This man was guilty of doing some horrible things, and yet he claimed to be a Christian. He claimed to be a born-again believer. The other pastor knew the man, I guess, better than I did, and I asked him, “I don’t understand how he claims to be a believer and does that?” He said, “Well, I asked him about that.” I said, “What did he say?” He said, “Well, I just claim 1 John 1:9 every time.”

That is not what this verse is about. It’s not a license to sin. It’s not, “I can live like the devil if I want to, and all I have to do is confess it, and it’s okay.” It’s not what that verse means. To come and confess our sin to God means to come with a repentant heart, and we know that we’ve sinned. We’re asking for His forgiveness, and we’re asking Him to cleanse us from all unrighteousness – not to go out and sin and do something vile and say, “Well, God, I’m sorry, and now it’s okay.” It’s not what the verse means. If we confess, if we come to God with a contrite heart, and we say, “Lord, forgive me. I have sinned.” Then He’s faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Well, what if He doesn’t? What if we don’t do that? What if we come without that contrite heart? Or what if we don’t confess our sins to the Lord at all? What if we, as believers, are going on our way, just doing what’s wrong, and we know what’s wrong? We keep doing it. Well, actually, the Bible has a great deal to say about that. I talked about 1 John being written to believers. James, in this passage, talks to believers.

Well, there are some other passages that talk to believers about sin. Hebrews 12:4-11, written to believers, says:

Hebrews 12:4: “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.”

When we went through Hebrews not too long ago, we looked at that. What does that mean? You have not yet resisted under the blood. We’re told to resist temptation. We’re told to resist the devil. He’ll flee from us. We’re told to escape temptation.

But the writer of Hebrews says, “You have not resisted unto blood.” You haven’t given it everything you have. You haven’t shed any blood over it, striving against sin. He goes on:

Hebrews 12:5: “And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:”

Hebrews 12:6: “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”

Those whom he has received, He’s going to scourge them.

Hebrews 12:7: “If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?”

Hebrews 12:8: “But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.”

Hebrews 12:9: “Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?”

Hebrews 12:10: “For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.”

Why does God chasten us? To bring us back to Him, to bring us back close to Him, to bring us back to following Him, and not following after our own selfish desires.

Hebrews 12:11: “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”

We accept the chastening. We get the message God’s given us. We come back to the Lord. Then we do:

1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Now, we start following the Lord again. 1 Corinthians 11: 28-32 is the passage we turn to almost every time we do the Lord’s Supper. Paul writes: “But let a man examine himself,” – and folks, that’s what we need to do. Examine ourselves. Take a good, honest look at ourselves.

2 Corinthians 11:28: “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.”

2 Corinthians 11:29: “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”

That’s pretty strong language. “He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself not Discerning the Lord’s body

What does that mean? Well, it tells us what it means. The next verse:

2 Corinthians 11:30: “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.”

Some people are weak because they’ve sinned in this manner. Some people are sickly, and some are dead. Sleep is Paul’s euphemism for dying. He uses it often. What are we to do about that?

Spared From God’s Chastening

Well, the next verse tells us that:

2 Corinthians 11:31: “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.”

2 Corinthians 11:32: “But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.”

Did you get that? If we judge ourselves, we will not be judged. God is not going to have to chasten us. If we see that we’re doing wrong, wake up to that fact, and take responsibility for it, then we come to the Lord, we repent, we confess our sins, and we begin following Him again. He doesn’t have to judge us. We already got the message. We already see what we’re doing wrong. We confess our sin as sin. We don’t make excuses. We don’t go to the Lord and say, “Well, Lord, you know I couldn’t help it. I just couldn’t help it. The temptation was just too strong for me. I just couldn’t help it.”

We don’t do that, and you don’t go to the Lord and say, “Well, Lord, yeah, I did wrong. I messed up, but look at me. I do great most of the time. I just kind of messed up today.” That’s not it. It’s not it. We don’t come to the Lord and say everybody’s doing it.

I don’t find a verse in the Bible that says what I’m about to say, and I want to make that very clear. But I think the Lord would be just if He said, and again, I don’t know that He said this. I’m not saying you’re going to find it in the Bible, but He would be just if we came to Him and said everybody’s doing it, and if He said everybody’s going to Hell, what about you? Now, again, I don’t read where He said that, but He’d be just if He did say it.

So, he says if we judge ourselves, we would not be judged, but when we are judged, when God does have to deal with the sinning believer, we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world. Do you know what that means? The Lord is chastening His children to bring them back to himself, bring them back on the right path, and get them following Him again, and He’s not condemning them with the world. That means you do not lose your salvation. You’re not condemned with the world when you are judged. We are chastened to the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world. Chastening of the sinning believer is, again, to bring them back.

Shortening Your Life

So, that takes us to 1 John 5:16-17. We referred to this verse just a service or two ago. John writes, “If any man see his brother again writing to Brethren,” – writing to Christians, writing to believers:

1 John 5:16: “If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.”

What does that mean? That means you see a Christian brother, and you see them going astray. You see them turning towards the world. You see them turning away from the Lord. You pray for them. You pray for them. And he says, “They sin a sin not unto death.”

The next phrase of the same verse 1 John 5:16 says, “there is a sin unto death: I do not say that you should pray for it.” Now, a believer may sin. A believer may repent and ask and receive forgiveness. Again:

1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

You do know that’s the same writer that wrote 1 John 5:16-17. Not only the same writer, the same book, but just five chapters later, he says, “There is a sin unto death: I do not say that you shall pray for it.”

But the believer who continues in sin is chastened and refuses the Lord’s correction and will eventually be taken home. His time of service in this life is cut short.

Folks, you don’t need to do anything to cut your life short. It’ll be short enough. You live out the time that God’s given you. Don’t long for death. Don’t seek after death. It’s coming, it’s coming, and it’ll come when God’s ready. I promise you, for most of us, it’ll come at a time that surprises us and when we’re not ready for it. “Oh, I’m ready, preacher. I’m saved, I’m prayed up, I’m paid up, I’m ready to go.” Well, thank God. That doesn’t mean when death comes it won’t catch you by surprise.

I heard a few years ago of a church up in Boynton Beach. I could name the church for you. I won’t. But a church up in Boynton Beach they were having a Sunday morning service. The pastor was sitting on the platform. I don’t know if he sat on this side or this side, but in Sunday morning service, the pastor was sitting there, and they said they were singing his favorite hymn.

The pastor fell out of his chair and down on the platform. He is dead and died during the service. I promise you he was surprised by that. I’m quite sure when he got up and got ready for church that morning, had his sermon no doubt, and was sitting on the platform during the service, he didn’t think this is it, I’m going home now. I’m not saying anything bad about that man. Don’t misunderstand me. I’m trying to get you to understand it comes when you don’t think it’s going to come.

A Warning to Believers

Let’s go back to verse 13 and get down to verse 16.

James 1:13: “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:”

James 1:14: “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.”

James 1:15: “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

James 1:16: “Do not err, my beloved brethren.”

That’s a warning. The summation of verses 13 to 15, “Do not err, my beloved brethren.” James writes this to the beloved brethren. He didn’t write it to the lost, although the lost are condemned to death. He wrote it as a warning because it’s a family matter. He directly instructs the brethren, “Do not err.” That little word “err” means do not turn astray, do not get off the path, do not turn away from following the Lord, do not wander off.

The choice is clear for us to follow the Lord and not follow the lust, the desires of our own heart. Now, somebody’s bound to say, “Yeah, well, I don’t know about that. Hold on, preacher, you say not to follow our own heart and our own desires but doesn’t Psalm 37:4 say:

Psalm 37:4: “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”

Well, it certainly does say that. “Well, if the Lord’s going to give us the desires of our heart, how can following the desires of our heart be wrong?” Well, the desires of your heart are right when you delight yourself in the Lord when you desire what He wants, that’s Psalm 37:4. Psalm 37:5 continues the thought:

Psalm 37:5: “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.”

So, when the desires of your heart are the desires of the Lord, when you’re following the Lord, you’ve committed your life to Him and you trust in Him, then He’ll give you the desires of your heart. He will.

James 1:16: “Do not err, my beloved brethren.”

When Satan tried to tempt the Lord, I say tried to tempt the Lord, Hebrews 4:15 says:

Hebrews 4:15: “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

He, Satan, used what he thought would be the Lord’s weak points to try to tempt Him. He failed. Jesus had fasted for 40 days. He was hungry, so Satan tried to tempt Him with bread. Jesus said:

Matthew 4:4: “But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

Then, Jesus was the Son of God, so Satan tried to tempt Him to jump from the highest point of the temple and trust the angels to catch Him, but Jesus said:

Matthew 4:7: “Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”

Then Satan, who is the god of this world according to 2 Corinthians 4:4, and the prince of this world according to John 12:31, John 14:30, and John 16:11, all three of those places he’s called the prince of this world. He offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. “Well, how could he do that?” He’s the god of this world, little “g,” and he’s the prince of this world. He offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world:

So, Satan knows what our weaknesses are. He knows those desires in our heart that aren’t right. He knows all of that, and he will tempt us in those areas where we are most vulnerable. Satan is the tempter. He’s called that in Matthew 4:3. He will use his logic, his power, and everything at his disposal to tempt you in those areas where your heart already desires the wrong thing. That’s how Christian people who truly have been born again, people who truly want to serve the Lord, get off track. They start to follow a strong desire in their heart. Satan picks up on that. “Oh, is that what you’d like? I can give you that.”

Years ago, John R. Rice wrote a little booklet, a little pamphlet, not a whole long book, a little pamphlet, titled “All Satan’s Apples Have Worms.” You might think about that. The key is found in James 4:7:

James 4:7: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

That’s it. Submit yourself to the Lord. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James summarizes it this way again:

James 1:16: “Do not err, my beloved brethren.”

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Father, thank you so much for blessing us. Thank you for your Word. Help us, as the hymn we sang says to yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin. Help us, Lord, as the song says, ask the Savior to help you. Lord, we know that we can come to you in times of temptation just as we can in times of other needs. Lord, I pray that you’ll help us to live by your Spirit, to follow your Spirit, and to be the people who you’d have us to be. Forgive us when we wander off. Bring us back. We pray, wash us, and use us again. Now, Father, bless us as we go to a season of prayer. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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