The Inside Man2
05/20/2007
THE INSIDE MAN!
James 1: 12-16
**When I was preparing the message for today, I actually completed two other messages but I just didn’t seem to get God’s affirmation that either one of them was the message that He wanted me to preach.
**I even told Marie Thursday night that I prepared two sermons this week but I didn’t sense that the Lord wanted me to preach either one of them.
**I prayed throughout the afternoon and into the night Thursday and when I woke up early Friday morning the first thing I said to the Lord other than I LOVE YOU was “Lord what do you want me to preach about Sunday?” It is so neat when you get such a specific and instant answer to your prayer. I sensed in my spirit that the Lord wanted me to preach about TEMPTATION.
**When I began studying on temptation I sensed the Lord wanted me to remind you that when it comes to Temptation There Is An Inside Man that we need to be aware of!
**Let’s read out loud our text for the message today (James 1: 12-16).
**When it comes to dealing victoriously with Temptation there are three things that I want to call to your attention today. First of all if we are going to be successful in overcoming TEMPTATION:
I. THE SOURCE MUST BE IDENTIFIED!
**Most people like to play “the blame game” when it comes to temptation. Notice what James says about it in v:13
A. Temptation is INTERNAL!
1: 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God” . . . He Himself does not tempt anyone!
**Last year there was a movie with Denzel Washington and Jodie Foster that was called “The Inside Man”. It was a rather intriguing movie about a bank robbery.
**None of the hostages ever saw the faces of any of the bank robbers and everyone was forced to wear identical jump suits and hoods.
**The interesting thing about this bank robbery is that they did not steal any money from the bank but they took a fortune from one specific security box that belonged to the founder and owner of the bank.
**This security box not only contained a fortune in diamonds and guaranteed bonds but it also contained a secret that the founder and owner of the bank did not want revealed.
**To make a long movie short, the leader of this sophisticated bank robbery told Denzel Washington (a hostage negotiator), that he was going to get away with this robbery. When he asked him how he expected to get away with it when the entire bank was surrounded with half the police department the leader of the band robbers said I am going to walk out the front door!
**The neat thing about it is that he did exactly as he said he was going to do. He walked right out the front door and that is exactly what he did!
**The reason he was able to control and manipulate so many peoples lives is that when all of the hostages were released, all of the bank robbers were dressed just like the hostages and since nobody had ever seen them nobody could identify the robbers.
**The leader of the robbers however was sealed behind a false wall inside the bank. After sufficient time had passed and the bank resumed its business schedule then he let himself out of the false wall, changed his clothes and “walked out the front door”!
**Temptation is not only INTERNAL but:
B. Temptation is UNIVERSAL!
1: 14 But each one is tempted when . . .
1 Corinthians 10: 13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and aGod is faithful, who will not allow you to be btempted 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.
C. Temptation is PERSONAL!
1: 14 . . . he is carried away and enticed by his own lust!
1939 ἐπιθυμία [epithumia /ep·ee·thoo·mee·ah/] 1 desire, craving, longing, desire for what is forbidden!
**The writer to the Hebrews gives us some additional insight into temptation when he wrote these words in 12: 1 let us also lay aside every encumbrance AND the sin which so easily entangles US.
**What is THE SIN that so easily entangles YOU?
Every single one of us has at least one and you are blessed if it is only one (smile)!
**Once the Source of our temptation is Identified then:
II. THE STEPS MUST BE RECOGNIZED!
**There are four specific steps involved in the process of temptation. The more we know about the process of being tempted the better prepared we will be to overcome temptation. The first step that we need to know about is that:
A. The DESIRE appeals to us EMOTIONALLY!
1: 14 he is carried away AND enticed by his own lust!
**carried away = 1828 ἐξέλκω [exelko /ex·el·ko/] v. From 1537 and 1670; GK 1999; AV translates as “draw away” once. 1 to draw out. 2 metaph. lure forth: in hunting and fishing as game is lured from its hiding
place, so man by lure is allured from the safety of self-restraint to sin. In Jas 1:14, the language of the hunting is transferred to the seduction of a harlot.
B. The DECEPTION appeals to us INTELLECTUALLY!
1: 14 . . . he is carried away AND enticed by his own lust!
**enticed = 1185 δελεάζω [deleazo /del·eh·ad·zo/] v. From the base of 1388; GK 1284; Three occurrences; AV translates as “entice” once, “beguile” once, and “allure” once. 1 to bait, catch by a bait. 2 metaph. to beguile by blanishments, allure, entice, deceive.
C. The DESIGN appeals to us VOLITIONALLY!
1: 14 . . . he is carried away and enticed by his own lust!
1939 ἐπιθυμία [epithumia /ep·ee·thoo·mee·ah/] n f. From 1937; TDNT 3:168; TDNTA 339; GK 2123; 38 occurrences; AV translates as “lust” 31 times, “concupiscence” three times, “desire” three times, and “lust after” once. 1 desire, craving, longing, desire for what is forbidden, lust. Additional Information: For synonyms see entry 3806, pathos.See entry 5845 for comparison of synonyms.
D. The DISOBEDIENCE appeals to us CARNALLY!
1: 15 Then when lust has conceived it gives birth to sin . . .
**Did you notice the progression of the process of temptation? It begins with a DESIRE then it is presented to us through deception and it is DESIGNED specifically for YOU and if it has not been dealt with by this point then the CARNAL side of you takes over and you have moved from TEMPTATION to SIN!
The lust or desire conceives and from this conception sin is born. The unmentioned father is most certainly Satan. The grotesque child, sin, then matures and produces its own offspring, death. The steps are all too clear: unchecked lust yields sin, and unconfessed sin brings death. How strange that sin gives birth to death. It may seem strange, but James warned his dear brothers and sisters who were to read this “genealogy” not to be deceived or led astray. Just as a right response to trials can result in growth to full spiritual maturity, so a wrong response to lust will result in decline to abject spiritual poverty and ultimately to death itself.
**We have Identified the Source (internal, universal and personal), and we have discussed the Steps that must be Recognized but now I want you to notice:
III. THE SOLUTION MUST BE UTILIZED!
A. A close RELATIONSHIP with the LORD!
1: 17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above
1 Corinthians 10: 13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and aGod is faithful, who will not allow you to be btempted 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]
B. A correct RESPONSE from the WORD!
1: 18 In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the Word of Truth
Luke 4: 1 aJesus, full of the Holy Spirit, breturned from the Jordan and was led around 1by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for aforty days, being tempted by the devil. 3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” 4 4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘aMan shall not live on bread alone.’ ”
----