Gooding, David: 2 - Temptation From Our Own Hearts

So tonight, let us begin our study by reading again from the epistle by James. Three passages, the first of them to be found in chapter one. James chapter one, Three passages that shall remind us of the three areas from which we may expect temptation, or, if we will, trial and testing. James chapter one then, verse thirteen: Let no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth no man. But each man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. Then the lust, when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin, and the sin, when it is full grown, bringeth forth death. Be not deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect giving is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Then in the same epistle and chapter five, please, verse eleven. If in our first passage we were thinking of temptation that comes from our own hearts, our own evil desires, now here we shall read of a good man who suffered temptation that was brought him by the devil. Chapter five and verse eleven. Behold, we call them blessed which endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the end of the Lord, how that the Lord is full of pity and merciful. And then finally, in chapter two of this letter, the same letter, chapter two, where we read of Abraham's case. We are told in the book of Genesis, chapter twenty two and verse one: to which our verses will now refer, that God did tempt Abraham. Though to help ourselves in modern English, we would prefer to put it God tried or tested Abraham. The word temptation in the New Testament, as in the old, has a far wider meaning than we commonly use in English. When we're thinking of temptation to do wrong, then we must remember what James chapter one says, that God does not tempt anybody. He cannot be tempted himself to do wrong. He certainly never tempts anybody else to do wrong. Temptation of that sort comes either from our own evil hearts or from the devil. But there is another sense in which the word temptation is used in Bible. We tend in modern English to translate it by testing or trying. As in Genesis twenty two, God did try or test Abraham. Not to make him do wrong, of course not. Not to break his faith, certainly no. But to test that faith and to try that faith and give Abraham the opportunity of demonstrating that his faith was genuine faith. In that sense of the word, then, uh, we understand this experience to which James refers in chapter two verse twenty one following. Was not Abraham our father justified by his works, in that he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar? Thou seest that faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect, and the scripture was fulfilled, which says, and Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. The Lord give us good understanding of his holy word. Now, in these two short studies together, we are considering the intensely practical matter of temptation. Last night, we thought of some of the basic principles that the New Testament introduces us to in respect of this topic. Tonight I want to take examples from the three areas from which we may expect temptation or testing to come our way. But before we do that, let's just briefly sum up the things that we found last night. Last night we were thinking of the fundamental importance of this matter of temptation. We should judge of the importance of it, the gravity of it, by what is involved in being tempted. In our modern sense of the word, we can of course talk about being tempted to eat too much food, and I as a preacher can testify to that temptation, but what is a man to do when faced with such excellent delicacies and marvelous cuisine that preachers are so frequently faced with? Glorious indeed, temptation hard to resist. But then I have to remember that if I give way to my physical appetite too much, then I can ruin my figure, and the ladies won't need to be told how serious that matter is. Yes, but I could ruin my health, as the doctors tell me about it, and that would be more serious, wouldn't it? And more serious too, if I did it too much, I could fall into the sin of gluttony that no Christian ought to fall into either, did he? Temptation, then, in what we may say is a small matter. Say yes, and you could be tempted as a genuine believer in more serious matters. Take a man, and there is no doubt that he is a genuine believer, but in a moment of financial difficulty and panic, he gives way to the temptation to commit some not completely honest thing in business. And of course, when it is discovered, to his confusion and great regret maybe, it can ruin the man's testimony, even though there's no doubt he is a believer. Or another man or woman, in a moment of weakness and peculiar temptation can fall to some moral indiscretion and live to regret it to the end of his or her days, finding his or her testimony ruined by it. That's serious enough, isn't it? We saw last evening, however, that temptation has an even graver side than that in ruining our testimony. And we were reading our Lord's parable of the sower, in which he indicates that temptation has for its gravest effect the fact that it will show in the end who is a true believer and who isn't. So we remember that group of whom our Lord spoke, when they hear the word, they receive it forthwith, and for a while they believe. But then something disastrous happens. They fall away, says our Lord, in the time of temptation. Why do they fall away? Our Lord explains because they never did have any root in themselves. So while they profess to believe, and in some shallow kind of sense did believe, yet there was never any genuine work of God's spirit in their hearts. They never were really true believers. And in the time of temptation, they are exposed for what they always were. They never did have any root. They were not, in the fullest sense of the word, true believers. You say, how would you tell a true believer then? Well, he's the one not whom- whom our Lord mentions and describes in the fourth group of that parable. The one who not only hears the word and believes it at the beginning, but goes on believing it. And because he has root in himself, come hail or sunshine, wind, storm or calm, he goes on, as our Lord puts it. He endures and brings forth fruit with endurance. So in the gravest sense of the word, temptation or testing has for its end and result that it will demonstrate finally who is a genuine believer and who isn't. That is a serious matter, isn't it? And then we notice the next big principle to which James introduces us. He reminds us that every believer can have absolute confidence in the face of such testing and temptation. So much so that he tells us that we are to count it all joy when we fall into various kinds of temptation, knowing that the proof of your faith works endurance, says James. A true believer need not fear, for if the root of the matter be in him, then the proving of his faith, the testing of it, the temptations will in the end cause him nevertheless to endure, and in enduring he will demonstrate himself to be genuine. We noticed last night that Paul says the same thing in Romans chapter five and verse two, that tribulation works endurance where, first of all, there is genuine faith. And we noticed also that Peter says the same thing in one Peter chapter one. However the severe the trial of faith may be through which a believer is put, God regards his faith as a precious lump of gold, and not one little bit of that gold shall perish. We are to count it all joy, then. Even though the experience be bitter and painful, we can count it joy in this respect, knowing that where there's faith to start with, temptation, trial, testing will in the end produce endurance. And then we noticed finally last night, what is the blessed result of temptation and endurance? Blessed is the man that endures temptation, says Job, says says James. And why would that be? Well, of course, endurance is the secret of bearing fruit, isn't it? We noticed in our Lord's parable, it is not enough for the seed to fall into the ground and simply produce a green shoot. If it never got beyond that, there never would be any fruit. If it's going to bear fruit, then that little shoot will have to persevere and endure and face the sunshine and face the storm, face the rain and face the dryness, and enduring in spite of it, grow and bring forth fruit. Count it all joy, says James, when you fall into divers temptations and testings, only this, let endurance have her perfect work, that you may be complete and wanting nothing. Oh, what glories God has ahead for every believer. Think only of that crown of life that the Lord Jesus will give to all those that love him. Think of the glories that he will put upon the shoulders and upon the heads of those who have demonstrated here in this life that they were, right from the beginning, genuine believers, that they did really love the Savior and have demonstrated it through the years by their endurance, all the glories he shall put upon them. And the secret is this, that they have been prepared to carry those glories by the discipline of temptation and trial and testing that has made them strong and caused them to endure, and in the end brought forth the rich fruit of Christian character. So we thought together then last night about some of these fundamental principles. Now let's come tonight to three areas from which we may expect temptation to come. And then we can see what we can do about it. What are our resources to meet temptation and trial when it comes? Let's take area number one, shall we? It's the area that James talks about in his first chapter, verses thirteen to eighteen, where he tells us, right? That when we are tempted, we're not to say, I am tempted of God. This, of course, is the sense in which we are being tempted to do something that is wrong. We must never say, I am tempted of God, for God never tempts anybody to do wrong. You say, where does the temptation come from then? Well, it certainly doesn't come from God, and incidentally, it doesn't necessarily come from the devil either, does it? You know, sometimes I think we blame the devil for a lot of things that the devil isn't responsible for. He is responsible for a vast amount of spiritual misery, but not all of it quite, is he? For some of the temptations that we suffer come certainly not from God, but they don't even come from the devil. They come from where then? They come from our own evil fallen hearts. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Temptation that comes from our own evil hearts. Now, when we read these words, particularly in our ancient translations, we are in danger, perhaps, of narrowing their meaning too much. We read, for instance, that each man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. And when we hear that word lust, we recognize it as a very ugly word, and are inclined to think of one particular group of immoralities. Yes, of course, they are serious enough. Let none of us think, however old we may be, that we're beyond being tempted. Last night, when we were thinking of the phrase in chapter one here of James, that God has brought us forth as a kind of first fruits of his creatures, it reminded us a little bit, didn't it, of that story in Genesis chapter forty nine about Reuben. He was the physical elder son of Jacob. And therefore, by rights, the birthright should have been his, and would have been his. But there came temptation. In an unguarded moment. Perhaps quite unpremeditated, who knows? Now Reuben was tempted to sins of the flesh, and for a momentary gratification of unlawful desire, Reuben fell and lost his birthright. He wasn't thrown out of Israel. He wasn't rejected as one of the tribes. As we said last night, Reuben's name shall be one of the names on the gates of the eternal city. But yielding to that temptation lost him his birthright. We must never take temptation lightly, may we? No believer can lose his salvation, of course not. But a believer may lose his crown, mayn't he? Let the Lord himself speak to our hearts. And preserve in them a godly fear. That where others have been tempted and have yielded to temptation, we might pray God's constant protection from such sins of the flesh. But you know, it wouldn't be right for us, would it, to limit that idea of lust simply to one particular group of sins. The Greek word means something broader than that. It means any wrong, evil desire, any selfish desire. My desire for something that I want for my own sake, even when God says no, or not yet. But I determine to have it, and my old nature longs for it. And in the end, I give way to the temptation that comes from my evil heart, and I take what I shouldn't, or insist on having what God has said no to. The example that James gives us is not sexual immorality, but our attitude to material possessions. Look what he says, if you will, in verses nine to eleven. But let the brother of low degree glory in his high estate, and the rich in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass, he shall pass away. For the sun ariseth with the scorching wind and withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth. So also shall the rich man fade away in his goings. And you say, what Vincent, what, by the way, is James talking about? I thought he was talking about temptation in those early verses, verses two to verse eight. And you say he is obviously talking about temptation in verse twelve. What are those other verses to do with temptation that come in the middle of it? Well, of course, they have this to do with it, that this was precisely the area in which some of our early Christian brothers and sisters felt grievous temptation. Let me try and explain it. If you go back to the Old Testament, you will find in its early books the general kind of promise from God that if his people behaved, if they kept his law, if they did his will, he would bless them. And when God was talking to Abraham and to the Jews, his blessing very often meant material goods: cattle, sheep, oxen, homes, children, healthy wife and family, good farm, and so forth. Israel were promised that if they kept his word, God would bless them. As was appropriate, of course, for God in those very far off days when God, as Paul puts it, was treating his ancient people like a father treats little children. And you have to tell the little child that, yes, if it behaves, then it'll get rewarded in the shape of a nice bun or a ice cream or something. And of course, it is the general basic lesson, isn't it? Ultimately, in this universe, they that do the will of God shall be abundantly blessed. But you know, as life went on, the Jews found that things weren't quite as simple and straightforward as they had thought. You come to the Psalms, for instance, Psalm seventy three, and you'll find the psalmist scratching his inspired head and saying to himself, but how is this? I don't understand it. Look, it's the, it's the wicked that prosper in the world. How come? Then look at those ungodly men downtown there. Why, they're the leading businessmen of the place, says the psalmist in, in seventy three. And that other unprincipled rogue, why he's the most successful farmer there is. His flocks always seem to do very well. How comes it that the wicked prosper in this world? And not only prosper, but sometimes because they are prepared to descend to illegal and unlawful ways, they inflict suffering on those that try to be honest. And as the psalmist said in Psalm twenty three, and therefore the righteous come home, wringing out their bitter cup full of sorrowful water. And in their heart rises the question, how can this possibly be? Doesn't God know? Doesn't God see? Look what that rotter has done to me. Look at his unprincipled ways. Look at the way I'm suffering, and are you trying to obey the Lord? It isn't fair. Doesn't God know? Of course, the Old Testament had an answer. It said that when the Messiah came, then he eventually would put down all evil. He would put the wicked in their place and give them their true deserts, and the righteous would shine forth in the kingdom of their father and be rewarded. And the Messiah did come, didn't he? Jesus Christ, our Lord. But you know what happened? There were many, indeed at the first apostles included, who, when they decided that Jesus was the Messiah, fell into the mistake of thinking that he was going to put the world right there and then. He would drive out the Romans, he would put down the wicked, he would judge the oppressors, liars and cheaters and fraudulent actors would all be put down, and the righteous would be rewarded. They found out that wasn't so. Our Lord was Messiah, but he hadn't come immediately to put down evil. He'd come rather to die for sinners and to start the day of grace when men and women might find forgiveness of sins and peace with God through faith in Christ's great atoning sacrifice. But the day of judgment wasn't yet come and wouldn't come until he returned again. Do you know that was a tremendous disappointment to a lot of people? They had professed to believe on him because they thought that believing in Jesus as the Messiah, no, he would stand up for them. They would get their rights. Of course, they would enjoy the great material blessings, the milk and honey of the land, and the evil would be put down. And when they found it wasn't so, they got very disappointed. They thought being a Christian meant material blessings now. And they found often it did- meant the very opposite, persecution now and suffering wrongfully, and suffering innocently for the Lord's sake. Then the temptation rose up within them. For they were determined to have enjoyment now, wealth now, peace and plenty now. And following a Messiah, if it meant suffering and losing your possessions. Oh, they didn't want that. How many a man has been tempted along that line since, hasn't he? There was a man called Demas. Do you remember him and what the apostle says of him? He began so well, didn't he? Then he forsook the apostle. Why did he forsake the apostle? Well, Paul tells us he loved this present age and the attraction and the temptation of enjoying himself now, and having his peace and plenty and his comfort now, and position and esteem in the world now, proved too much. And he left the apostle. He abandoned the Lord's work. He loved this present world. Paul warns us, doesn't he, through his letter by Timothy. Those who determine, hook or by crook, they are going to be rich. They stand in grave danger of piercing themselves through with many sorrows. So it's not merely some narrow area of sexual misdemeanour that the apostle is talking to, talking about when he talks of our lusts, our selfish desires. It can be wrong and selfish desires for anything, can't it? And in the context, he's talking about the desire for success in this world, material possessions, nothing wrong in them, but if I'm faced with the choice of loyalty to the Lord Jesus, with suffering and loss, or else material prosperity at the cost of being disloyal to the Lord Jesus. It can become a very big temptation, can it not? And then is the man and woman who, under the temptation, has chosen this present world. What can I do about it? How can I strengthen myself against such temptations? You say they don't affect me. I'm not too hateness to rub together anyway, and I'm very happy, so that kind of thing doesn't affect me. Perhaps it doesn't now, my good young man. You wait till you're fifty. How can I help myself? Well, there are a number of things we can do, says James. The first thing is, if we're going to combat this kind of unlawful, selfish desire, then we must seek the wisdom of God. If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives all men liberally and upbraideth not. If we come and tell him honestly that we don't have the wisdom to make the right decision, and please will he give us the wisdom to see things as he sees them. Then he will graciously give us the wisdom. Because facing this kind of temptation does mean that we shall need to look at material things as God looks at them. There's nothing wrong with material blessings, are there? I've heard a rumor, and it's more than a rumor, that where Christ is at this moment, it is fabulously wealthy. Isn't that so? You wouldn't possibly describe the absolutely indescribable wealth with which Christ is now surrounded. There's nothing wrong with riches. What is wrong then? It will be wrong if my heart is so intent on them that to get them I'm disloyal to the Lord. How shall I be helped? Why, to look at them as God looks at them. Consider, says James, you believers, are you a poor man? Ah, but think of this, that if you've been saved, oh, what a tremendous rank has already been given you. You may be poor in this world's goods, says James, but glory in this, glory in your highest state. Oh, let's sit back on our seats for a moment and do just that, shall we? You haven't got two hatenies in your pocket. Never mind, my brother, never mind, my sister, just consider your estate. Child of God. Son of God. Heir of God. Joint heir with Jesus Christ. When he comes into his vast inheritance and asks of the Father to give him the uttermost parts of the world for his possession, he's got to share it with you, my brother, my sister. All the dignity of being a child of God. Pray, consider your high estate. And when I think of it, what in the end difference does it make to that high estate, whether I have a penny or a million? The thing comes insignificant, doesn't it? I have a sister, and if you promise not to spit upon me, I'll tell you a story about her. She's a wonderful woman, and she has many arts and crafts at her disposal, but she isn't much of an astronomer. One day, her, her sons and daughters brought home an enormous great telescope for looking at the stars, and they set it up in the backyard, and they were all looking through it, and eventually mother looked through it. She couldn't see the star very well, so she said, well, I tell you what to do, let's take it to the bottom of the garden, and we'll see it a bit better there. As if moving a telescope a few yards to the bottom of the garden would somehow bring it nearer the star, you say, but what's ten yards compared with the light years of distance between us and that star? Yeah. Well, she soon saw her mistake. Tell me, my brother, the difference between one penny and a million pounds, what is it? Compared with the incalculable wealth of Christ. All pray consider your highest state. Go home tonight, and as you lay your head on the pillow, think of it, my brother. Let it soak into your heart, the exceeding riches of the glory of God's inheritance in the same. And as you think of it, it will help to put nice material things in their true perspective. And let the rich bother. What about him? Well, he's not condemned for being rich. There's nothing wrong in riches in themselves. Though, of course, they carry their danger, don't they? It's hard, for instance, for a rich man to enter into the kingdom, says our Lord. But there's nothing wrong in riches in themselves. But a man who's rich will do well to seek the divine wisdom and look at his riches as the divine wisdom looks at them. And what about that? Well, let the rich man rejoice in this, in that he has been made low. You say, that's a hard saying, isn't it? What do you mean, made low? No, it isn't a hard saying. It's reality. Well, what a tragedy it would have been, my rich brother, if depending on your riches, you had missed salvation. You think of old Naaman with all his wealth, but he was a leper, and he came to be healed of Elisha, and Elisha didn't bother to get off his seat, but sent a messenger, let him go and dip in the Jordan seven times, and Naaman flew into a rage, and he nearly missed the cleansing. Because of his wealth and his palm, and he felt it an insult to be asked to dip in Jordan. Then God, wiser counsels prevailed, and he was brought low, wasn't he? As a humble sinner, now suffering from the leprosy with all its threat of death, brought low to realize it in the nick of time, brought low to submit to God's way of salvation and saved through it. Oh, thank God for that. Thank God, young man, if you have learned not to trust your intellectual riches, but you have been brought low to see yourself as God sees you, in spite of all your tremendous IQ. A sinner in the sight of God, unable to solve life's ultimate question. A sinner like anybody else, in need of salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord, and you've been brought low in repentance, and you have trusted the Savior. Alas for those many folks that are rich intellectually, and because they trust their wisdom, they haven't been brought low yet, and they refuse to be brought low, and if they go on like it, they shall perish eternally. Oh, we need to get divine wisdom on these things, don't we? To see this world's transitory riches as God really looks at them in the light of the great eternal issue. We can do another thing, and we ought to. How shall I resist temptation at this level? By never forgetting that I still have a fallen evil nature. Never forgetting it. What is it that causes me to sin? Well, it's not God here, says James. He doesn't tempt anybody to sin. Where does the temptation come from? From my own evil heart, that's where it comes from. What do you say in me? And I a believer, and I've been a believer this last fifty years and perhaps more. Yes. And still, let me never forget it. Still with a fallen evil nature within that hasn't been improved all these long years. I'm responsible under God and by the help of his Holy Spirit to keep that old flesh in its place and to crucify it and keep it under and to mortify it. And you know, if I forget that I've still got it and relax my guard and don't continue to mortify it. And sure as eggs are eggs, one of these days it will rise up in all its old virulent power and evil, and present me with enormous temptation. Need to remember it, don't I? This evil thing, this evil fallen nature of mine still with me, for the flesh is in me, though thank God if I'm a believer, I'm not in the flesh but in the spirit. But the flesh is still with me, isn't it? Source of selfish desire. And if I let it get the upper hand, there's nothing it's not capable of, you know. Let me read you what James says of it in a later chapter when he comes to describe it. Chapter four, he says this: Whence come wars, and whence come fightings among you? Come they not hence even of your pleasures, that war in your members? You lust and have not, you kill and covet and cannot obtain, you fight and war, you have not because you ask not, you ask and receive not, because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures. What an evil thing the fallen nature is, isn't it? Selfish desire. Nothing it isn't capable of, even in a believer. Isn't that true? Tell me, was David a believer before his sin with Bathsheba. How many delightful psalms had he written before he committed those grievous sins? Desire, and then instead of stepping on it and putting it in its place, playing with it, and it led to stealing, didn't it? Yes, and it led to worse. It led to murder in the end. You say that those folks that Paul is, that James is talking about in chapter four, you're not saying they are believers, are you? Well, I wasn't saying anything. I tell you what James says about them. He says they're spiritually adulteresses. What is an adulteress? Well, she's a woman that's married to one husband and then proves disloyal to him and goes off with somebody else. When he calls these folks adulteresses, he's using a figure, isn't he? Israel married to Jehovah, the believer part of a virgin espoused to the Lord Jesus. But then they've yielded to wrong desire, selfish desire, and loved things more than they've loved him, and love the world, and have become disloyal. And are for us. You say there's forgiveness with the Lord? There surely is. All the mercy for his forgiveness. David himself was restored and forgiven and becomes an example for us. You say, but I still can't believe that those folks that he's talking about it. Desire, and then instead of stepping on it and putting it in its place, playing with it, and it led to stealing, didn't it? Yes, and it led to worse, it led to murder in the end. Say that those folks that Paul is, that James is talking about in chapter four, you're not saying they are believers, are you? Well, I wasn't saying anything. I tell you what James says about them. He says they're spiritually adulteresses. What is an adulteress? Well, she's a woman that's married to one husband and then proves disloyal to him and goes off with somebody else. When he calls these folks adulteresses, he's using a figure, isn't he? Israel married to Jehovah, the believer part of a virgin espoused to the Lord Jesus. But then they've yielded to wrong desire, selfish desire, and loved things more than they've loved him, and loved the world, and have become disloyal. And are forever. You say there's forgiveness with the Lord? There surely is. All the mercy for his forgiveness. David himself was restored and forgiven and becomes an example for us. You say, but I still can't believe that those folks that he's talking about in James chapter four were ever true believers. Would they let their own desires become so ruthless that they'd elbow other folks out of the way and push them, and if need be, kill them, if not literally, metaphorically, to get their own way. All right. You say they're not believers? That's the point, isn't it? Well, when we yield to our old evil nature like that, if we carry on in it, that is precisely the question mark that we shall put over ourselves. Are we believers that are backslidden? Spiritual adulteresses. Or is it that we were folks who believed for a while but never had the root inside them. That is precisely the whole question, isn't it? Ah, yes. That's why temptation is so grave a matter. How shall I demonstrate that I am a believer? Why, my brother and sister, if like me you've fallen many a time, and if you're a true believer, you'll come back to the Lord and seek his forgiveness, won't you? As Peter did, as millions have done since, and ask his pardon, and by his grace get up again and determine now by his grace to mortify the flesh and keep it in its true place. Man, woman that goes on, gives full free reign to his undisciplined, unbridled desire, raises the big question mark. Is he really Really a believe. believer? What else can I do to help me in time of temptation? Well, says James, get it into your head that it's not God that's tempting you. Why is that important? Well, it's important for this reason amongst others. In the ancient world, where people were pagans and worshipped all sorts of idols, it not infrequently happened that they used to deify their own desires. So if the man felt his pugnaciousness, his aggressiveness, his love of violence and beating the other fellow up, they attributed to the god of war. And they felt that when they got that feeling, this was the god of war inspiring them, and they were jolly proud of it instead of being, uh, sorry about it. When they found lust and immorality pressing, how about some of them said it was the goddess of love, you see, Aphrodite, and she made them do it, and she was a goddess, of course, and you can't, you can't resist goddesses. You have to do what goddesses say. Yes, and there's the trouble, isn't it? When our modern world virtually defies our urges and excuses all sorts of evil behavior because, well, that's the natural thing to do. Nature demands it of us. They're doing what the old pagans did, defying their own psychological urges and then using that as an excuse for why they didn't resist them. We mustn't do that, may we? Those wrong desires that come from within, they're not gods and goddesses. They certainly aren't the Holy Spirit of God. They're my old fallen nature, and it can be resisted, thank God, by the grace and power of his Holy Spirit, and is to be resisted. But on the other hand, I can let myself think of the loveliness of God, can I not? God tempt me to do evil? Of course he wouldn't. God ever seek evil for me? Of course he never would. Think only of what he's done. Of his own will, he begat us. My good brother, my sister, do tell me, you born again? You become a child of God? That's marvelous. Whose idea was it? Was it your idea? Was it that you were treading your back garden one of these lovely summer days and you said, this is glorious. I think I have an idea now. Instead of being a creature of God, what about my becoming a son of God? I think I'll suggest the idea to the Almighty. He hasn't thought of it, maybe. Well, of course you say, don't talk so stupidly. The idea that you should be born again and become a child of God, heir of Christ, heir of God, joint heir with Christ. Was that your idea? Of course, it wasn't your idea. It was God's idea. He did of it of his own free will, of his own free will he begat us. Oh, how he intends to do us good. Not only begat us, but got us as a kind of first fruits of his creature. If without being asked of his own initiative, long before we even existed, he had planned it all, that we should be children of God. Can I not trust him? There's no change with him, says Jane. He never varies. If he loved me in past eternity, he loves me now, he'll love me forever. And never once will he seek my harm, but always my good. Does it seem, my dear brother, my dear sister, that the world is having a very gay time and, and somehow your faith, as you call it, is keeping you back and makes you look silly, and why can't you enjoy yourself like the rest of men? And isn't God an old killjoy? Oh, in that moment when temptation comes like that, pray step back a place or two, and pray consider it. The tremendous salvation that God designed without being asked, and accomplished by his grace, forgotten again and become a first fruits of this creature. Doesn't change. And if he says no today to sinful desire, it's not because he's a killjoy, but because his will is best. Ah, dear old Reuben. Can you picture him in that moment when temptation assailed? And all his appetites felt that this was the golden opportunity, and if he didn't take it now, he was, um, he was depriving himself of some good. Ah, what would the moderns say about it? If only in that moment he'd stepped back two paces and begun to think of the great mercies of God, that by God's own providence, God had ordered and arranged it that he should be the eldest son and have the birthright. In that moment, he had weighed that little gratification against the great honor of eternally being the birthright son. But no. He let the momentary glamour befuddle his brain of judgment and shut out the great kindness of God. And he sins to his everlasting sorrow. We haven't the time to consider in such detail the other areas from which temptation comes. That won't matter. Our lessons have been enough for tonight. But just let me briefly mention them as we close. If some temptation comes from our fallen evil desires, other temptation will come from Satan. What's he concerned about? Well, of course, he's concerned about anything in which he may harm the child of God. And more often than not, he's not concerned with driving us or tempting us to some lurid misdemeanor. What he's at is something far deeper. He's at trying to put a wedge between my heart and God. Driving a wedge between me and the Savior. Happened with Job, didn't it? You remember his story? God said to Satan, Satan, have you considered my servant Job? Yes, I have, he said. And to tell you the truth about Job, I could tell you that now, said Satan. He simply loves and serves you for what he gets out of it. You've made his life so pleasurable that of course he serves you. If you were to allow him to suffer, then he'd turn around and blaspheme you to your face. Said God, all right then, Satan, you are permitted to attack him to certain limits. Satan stripped the man of virtually all he had, health included. And still Job sinned not. The Lord gave, he said, well, the Lord's taken away. That's fair enough. Ah, but that wasn't the end of the trial. When Satan could do no more in that direction, he used Job's friends, alas. And they came along to Job and they said, you know, Job, you might as well be honest. You must have done some terrible sin. Just look at you. This terrible illness and all these calamities that have come upon you. It must be that underneath you've been a hidden sinner. Now come on, Job, admit it. They were grossly wrong, of course, weren't they? Not all suffering comes as a result of personal sin. And that's what they said to Job, and they so infuriated the man that in the end he went almost beyond the limit, didn't he? It was so unfair, he felt, so unfair. In the end, he began to harbor hard thoughts about God himself. Look here, he said, if God would only come down and stand in front of me here, I'd tell him to his face and I'd prove it to him. It isn't fair, God. I lived the best I know how. Of course, I've not been perfect, but I've done this and I've done that. I've helped the poor, I've relieved the widow, I've been just, I haven't been immoral. I've done everything I know how to live a godly life, and it isn't fair I should suffer like this. Trouble with God is, he says, you can't get at him. He hides behind his heaven. If only he'd come down here and talk, I'd prove it to his face. I'm not unjust. This is grossly unfair. That was serious, that wasn't it? You can see that was serious, can't you? For a believer under pressure from Satan to come to doubt the fairness of God. We better talk with bated breath and sympathy, haven't we? It's okay for us to sit in health and peace and say, oh, we bless the hand that guided. Ah, let's wait till grievous affliction, long running pain, make us cry out that it isn't fair. Haven't you noticed that? That in many a heart, that is the reaction in the end, but why what have I done to deserve this? I haven't been perfect, but but why should I have to suffer all this? That's Satan at his job, trying to break a believer's faith in the fairness and justice and love of God. How can I shield myself against it? We haven't the time to think tonight how Job was shielded against it and won through. Though James tell us to, tells us to observe how he endured and came through, and in the end justified God and said God was right. Even if it meant admitting that everything Job had thought was right was wrong. God was right. Job won his battle, and his faith in God remains. How can I come through my periods of temptation and testing from the very devil, when it seems that God isn't fair and God doesn't care tough? Let me remember Calvary, and he who spared not his own son, but gave him up for us all. Let me ponder that love and see whether it do not win the battle for me and lead me to say yes, I don't understand what God is doing, but the God that gave his son for me, I can trust him, even in the dark. And then there are testings, we won't call them temptations, there are testings that come from God himself, aren't there? We've had temptations from our own evil hearts. Temptation, as in the case of Job, that came to him via Satan, though with God's permission, that came from Satan to try and get him to doubt God. Where else do testings come from? From God himself. But not now tempting us to destroy our faith, but testing us to strengthen our faith and to give us the chance of demonstrating that our faith is genuine. That was what was happening with Abraham, wasn't it, on Mount Moriah. In Genesis fifteen, we read that Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. Oh, so he was a believer. Lovely. Really a believer. Not putting his trust in Isaac or Sarah or anything else, but putting his trust in God. You say, yes, that's what everybody has to do to be justified. To be justified before the Lord, why you have to put your faith solely in God, not in your own works, not in the church, not in anybody at all. You have to put your faith in God, solely in God, and Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. Do you think he really believed like that? Wasn't he a little bit wobbly after that for a little while? He said he believed God, you know, but he came to a very curious scheme along with Sarah and Hagar, didn't he? Was that really faith in God? You say, no, it wasn't. He never ought to have taken the Hagar. That was a bit wobbly, you know. That wasn't faith, that was the flesh, rather. I'm afraid it was. But you think he was a true believer at heart? Yes, you say, I think he was a true believer. He went a bit wobbly in the middle, but he was a true believer. Yes, so he was, and you watch the climax. For in the end, God gave him the chance of demonstrating that he was a true believer, that his faith was in God, and in God only. So when Isaac was grown up, said God to Abram, now Abram, just let's get this straight. Who is it your faith is in? Me? Or is it in Isaac? Let's settle it, eh. You give me Isaac. What, and be left with nothing but God? Precisely. That's what faith is, isn't it? It's faith in God. Full stop. Abram triumphed. When God thought he was ready for the examination, he put Abram to it. Come on now, Abram. Demonstrate what you say. You say you are a believer, that your faith is in me and in me only. Come on, Abram, now demonstrate it. And Abram walked Moriah and gave Isaac to God to demonstrate his faith was genuine faith in In God. God. So, when the time is right and we are fit for the examination, God will deal with us all. If I've been justified by faith, thank the Lord for that. But if the faith is genuine, sooner or later God will give me the chance under test, of demonstrating before him that my faith is the genuine thing, and he will give me the chance of showing it by my works. So the Lord bless his word, and use it to strengthen us, each one of us, as long as we are here in this world of our probation and trial. But from whatever source the temptation come, from whatever source the trial, we may triumph in the Lord Jesus and bring forth fruit to his glory. Remember, happy are those who endure temptation, for when they're shown to be genuine, they shall receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to them that love him. And so, blessed Lord Jesus, we lift our hearts to thee as we come to thee from thy holy word. We bless thee that because thou hast suffered being tempted, thou art able to succour those that are tempted. We bless thee because thou dost ever live. Thou art able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by thee. And therefore now, this evening, we pray that thou wilt write thy word on our hearts. Grant, Lord, that we shall not go away and forget it, but by thy word and by thy gracious promise and by the power of thy Holy Spirit, fortify us, we do beseech thee, and give us wisdom, that facing temptation we may learn to endure, and by thy grace to triumph. Forgive us for where when we have fallen hitherto, and grant us restoration and grace to get up and go again and live to thy glory, as we thank thee for the ultimate triumph, knowing that temptation and the trial of our faith works endurance, and thou will grant us at last the crown of life to those that have loved thy name. Part us then with thy blessing, we beseech thee, for thy name's sake. Amen.