1 Corinthians 10:13-No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
I Corinthians 10:13 tells us that temptation is a common experience. We all face it. It also tells us God will always provide a way out for us. I know there is cultural pressure and pressure from peers to experiment with all kinds of things. I know there is pressure to conform in order to be included in a group or to be liked by others. I know there is pressure to keep up with the Kardashians or whoever lives across the street from you. I get it. Pressure makes the pull of temptation harder to resist. But as believers, we aren’t left to handle the pressure on our own. God is faithful. He will be with us, and He will help us find a way out of the situation if we look to Him for help.
Perhaps the reason so many believers get caught up in sin, the reason they fall for the temptation and trap is because we aren’t yet sure that we believe sin is all that dangerous. We justify that something isn’t “all that bad” or that it isn’t as bad as the kinds of things that some people do and we don’t trust the seriousness of sin. Look at what James says:
James 1:13-15-When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
What is the end result of giving into temptation? What is the end result of caving to unholy desires? It is spiritual death which can lead to death in other areas of our life whether the death of our relationships or our finances or health or more. Therefore, sin is dangerous.
James helps us see that desire is normal. The normal desires of life have been given to us by God, so desire in and of itself isn’t sinful. We have to have desire. If you were never hungry or never thirsty, you wouldn’t ever eat or drink anything, and if you didn’t eat or drink anything you would die. If you never got tired and never had a desire to sleep, your body would wear out in a hurry. Sexual desire is normal, and without it, the human race wouldn’t continue. Desires aren’t bad, but it is when we try to satisfy these desires in ways that are outside of God’s will that we get into trouble.
James actually used two illustrations from the world of sports here. He used the phrase, “dragged away” and the word “enticed.” “Dragged away” carries with it the idea of baiting a trap. Hunters bait traps to lure animals in. “Enticed” in the original Greek means “to bait a hook.” Fishermen appeal to the natural desires of the fish they are trying to catch. No animal is deliberately going to step into a trap, right? So, hunters try to hide the knife, the trap. No fish will bite at a naked hook, right, so fisherman try to hide the hook with bait that is appealing. That is what Satan does with temptation. He hides a trap or a hook by baiting it with something that appeals to us, with something that is alluring because of a natural desire. When he does, he is trying to hide that what is underneath will cause us pain, regret, sorrow, and even death. And Satan isn’t a “catch and release” fisherman, friends. He is going to try to catch and keep everyone he catches and make them slaves to the sin that becomes their master.
And it is the bait that keeps us from seeing the consequence. We can’t be so focused on the desire that we are oblivious to the consequence. When David looked on his neighbor’s wife and lusted after he because she was so beautiful desire was the result. If he would have thought through the consequences of an unwanted pregnancy that would lead to a desperate cover up and the murder of her husband and then the untimely death of their baby that had been conceived, I don’t think he would have taken the bait. What James wants us to understand is that we cannot elevate the desire over the consequence because we will be sorry if we do. I think we want to pursue the desire and often think we will deal with the consequence later or that it won’t be as bad as God says it is, or that we will escape it altogether somehow, but James warns us that it isn’t so. Don’t let the bait keep you from seeing the consequence of sin.
James moved from hunting and fishing illustrations to the birth of a baby. Look again at verse 15: Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Something new is born in us when we sin, and it isn’t good. And guess what? It grows.
That is what babies do. They grow. And babies are demanding, aren’t they? James says, “When we sin, we are giving birth to something that is going to demand more and more and more from us.” Young parents who are caring for babies at home, do you ever feel trapped? Yes, children are a blessing from the Lord, but what they demand from us in those early years is almost all-consuming. James wants us to understand that giving in to our desires will lead us into a relationship with sin that is demanding and often all-consuming.
You have to exercise faith in the moment of temptation that even though you are feeling pulled in a direction, even though it sounds like fun, even though the risk of being caught seems minimal, even though everybody else is doing it, even though you think you might be labeled if you don’t do it, even if you think you will be missing out by opting out, you have to exercise faith that God isn’t lying to you, that God loves you, and that God’s way is best for you. And if you don’t stop and exercise faith when you are being tempted, if you don’t start to pray immediately, “God, help me. God, show me the way out of this,” you will be escorted by Satan to go behind the curtain and eventually…sometimes immediately…you will wish you hadn’t.
Not only do we need to exercise faith in the face of temptation, but we need to flee from it.
We are told to flee from idolatry-I Corinthians 10:14. If your boat is more important than God, you need to flee. If that boyfriend or girlfriend is more important than God, you need to flee. If your work or your status in some club is more important than God, you need to flee.
We are told to flee from sexual immorality. I Corinthians 6:18. Set boundaries that will maintain moral purity in your relationships up front and don’t put yourself in situations where lines can be crossed. The backseat of a car in a dark alley isn’t the place to go if you are trying to keep lines from being crossed! Flee.
We are told to flee from youthful passions II Timothy 2:22. There are lots of crazy things that may seem like just having fun, but they aren’t fun to others around you or they aren’t a joke to the law. Flee.
We are told to flee from the love of money. I Timothy 6:11 The love of money will create a jerk out of the nicest individual. It will keep you self-focused and self-dependent until the flow of money in your life is disrupted. Flee.
Not only do we need to exercise faith and flee when we are dealing with temptation, but there are times when we are going to need to resolve to FIGHT. Too many believers are living with a victim mentality. They have given up. They have given in. Listen, while salvation comes to us as a gift, taking the ground that we are supposed to claim as believers isn’t going to come without a fight. You don’t take the Promised Land and overcome the giants in your life without effort.
Ephesians 6:10-11-Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
Put your dukes up, man. Put your dukes up, lady. Dig in your heels and resolve that you aren’t going to be swayed and enticed by desire. Do some studying about how to battle the enemy through prayer, through pleading the blood of Jesus over your life, by having your mind renewed and transformed, by allowing the Holy Spirit to baptize you and have full access to your life and by strengthening yourself in the Holy Word of God. You are not powerless. You are not being bullied by a force greater than the One that resides in you if you are a Christian. It is time to stand up and use what is ours so that we can send the devil packing. It is your right as a Christian. Start using it.
Believers, let’s go from temptation to triumph. We can do it in the authority and name of Jesus Christ!
