Tempted

November 8

Ezekiel 21-22

Psalm 119:129-136

Proverbs 27:1-2

James 1:1-18

Tempted

“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God;’ for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.  But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.  Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully matured, it brings forth death.” 

James 1:13-15 LSB

God is holy and without sin (Psalm 111:2-3, 145:17, 1 Peter 2:22, 1 John 3:5, 2 Corinthians 5:21).  As we discussed a few days ago, He will not tolerate sin.  He will not try to trip us up or entice us to do evil.  He desires our good and goes to great lengths to help us avoid sin and its consequences.  “No temptation has overtaken you but such is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 LSB  Satan is a liar, tempter, and deceiver.  John 8:44 describes him as the father of lies.  He and his demons spend all their time scheming and planning how they can entice people to sin.  They are evil and revel in wickedness.  They love chaos and want everyone to follow their wicked schemes.  “Be alert and sober minded.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8 NIV   Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:12-19 describe Satan’s fall from Heaven.  He was a beautiful angelic being until his pride and arrogance caused him to rebel against God and be cast out of Heaven.  From the garden until now, his main goal is to bring people down with him (Genesis 3:1-5, Luke 4:13, 2 Corinthians 11:3) and he will continue until Christ’s second coming when he will be cast into the lake of fire forever  (Matthew 25:31-46, 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10, Revelation 12, 20).  

While it is clear throughout Scripture that Satan and his demons are slinking around everywhere lying, deceiving, tempting and doing anything they can to cause us to sin, this verse explains that he is not the source of our sin.  “The devil made me do it” is a pitiful excuse.  We are carried away and enticed by our own lust  (Romans 5:12, 7:18, Ephesians 2:1-3, Psalm 51:5, Galatians 5:16).  We are born with an inherent sinful nature. Anyone who is a parent or has spent any time around children knows that you don’t have to teach children to disobey.  We are all born with selfish, sinful desires.  We are accountable for our actions and are without excuse (Romans 1:20, John 15:22).  Thankfully, God has provided the solution.  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16 LSB   For those who are in Christ Jesus, sin no longer has dominion over us.  We are free from the bondage of sin (Romans 6:12-14, 2 Peter 2:1-11,  4:1-2, Hebrews 4:15-16, Ephesians 6:10-20).  Through the power of the Holy Spirit in us, we can overcome sin and resist Satan.