THE ORIGIN AND PATH OF TEMPTATION

Jas. 1:14 ... "Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust."

      Temptation is a crisis in human experience. A complex of factors, such as one's state of mind, emotions, and natural instincts, other people with their influence, and various other conditions in the person's environment, all converge to demand a decision in his life. The results that follow operate to change the person's life, alter his relations with other people, realign his life with respect to external things and conditions, and above all, affect his relation with God. 

      What is the source of temptation, which has such an impact upon one's life? Is it sent by God to test the individual's personal strength and loyalty to Him? The verse preceding our text (Jas. 1:13) denies this explanation most emphatically and even forbids a person to entertain such a suggestion. We are shown throughout the Bible that God's intention and effort is always to enable us to avoid temptation when possible and defeat it when avoidance is impossible. If temptation is not God's work, then is it an activity of Satan to snatch souls out of the hand of God to make them his own servants? When a person yields to temptation and commits sin, it is a fact that he becomes a servant of sin, which is tantamount to being a servant of Satan, (Rom. 6:16). Although there can be no doubt that it is Satan's desire for people to sin, serve him, and seal their fate in his own destiny, our text does not credit the devil with being the real source of our temptation. If it is neither God nor Satan who bring temptation upon us, then what is the source? The only thing left is man himself, or more specifically human desire. To live is to desire something, and Jas. 1:14 posits desire as being the fertile ground in which the seeds of temptation can be planted and take root, grow lushly to maturity, and then flower forth as sin in full and deadly bloom.

      Temptation therefore begins with a person's will to possess something, do something, or experience something that presently is not within his grasp. The object of the desire does not have to be something evil per se; in fact, it is very often something good, proper, and constructive. However, the object of much human desire is indeed evil and forbidden from its beginning. It must be admitted that desire is unavoidable, for it is inseparably a part of the human constitution. But it can be controlled by nurturing desires that have good objects and extinguishing those with forbidden objects by substituting better things in their place. Desire as such is neither evil nor forbidden unless it is directed toward something evil, as, e.g., hurting someone, (Mt. 5:22), committing adultery, (Mt. 5:28), defrauding someone, (Mt. 15:3-8), or taking vengeance into one's own hands, (Rom. 12:17-21).

      Temptation springs forth in the presence of desire to offer a way to fulfill it. And by its very nature, the way it offers is contrary to the way God would have us follow. For every legitimate human desire there is a way to satsify it with God's approval. This is "the way of escape" which I Cor. 10:13 assures us that "God is faithful" to provide. This is where the decision must be made in the temptation crisis. Within the heart is a desire with a goal which (we shall say) is legitimate. On the one hand, God offers a means of fulfillment that is good and constructive. On the other hand, Satan "entices" the person, i.e., he strongly encourages him to achieve the desire in a way that offends God, usually via the carnal senses without regard for the spiritual. Yielding to Satan is sin, but having the wisdom to turn into the course  marked out by God is an act of righteousness. The best place to defeat sin, therefore, is at the point of desire before temptation begins. Diminshing and then extinguishing forbidden desires remove one huge area of temptation and the sin that follows. And being prepared to look for and grasp God's "way of escape" completes the victory, leaving the devil with his bag of enticements standing empty-handed in failure.

THE BIBLICAL VIEW OF SEX

Heb. 13:4 ... "Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge."

      The sex urge is one of the most powerful drives in the human body and cannot therefore be ignored by the Christian who is devoted more to spiritual pursuits than to physical gratification. If it were otherwise, there would be a danger that people would not mate, produce children, and continue the human race into another generation. God's command in Gen. 1:28 to "be fruitful and multiply" infers His will that males should have sexual union with females to effect conception. Furthermore, He fashioned the woman to appeal to the man and arouse within him the desire to mate. This is implied in two special words in Gen. 2:18, "Then the Lord said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.'" God's design has worked exceedingly well since it was implemented in the beginning, for there has been no lack of evidence that men are stirred to passion by women and seek sexual gratification in union with them. Indeed, it has been well said that "the only command of God that people have been universally happy to obey is "Be fruitful and multiply'."

      But in implementing the plan of human sexuality, God also gave some instructions for it that must be respected and observed. First, males must seek sexual gratification only with females, and females only with males. Sexual activity between members of the same sex, or between humans and animals, is condemned by God as abomination. In the Mosaic Law it was decreed, "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination," (Lev. 18:22). And in the Gospel of Christ it is clearly stated that "abusers of themselves with mankind ... shall [not] inherit the kingdom of God," (I Cor. 6:9-10)." The NASB translates the original arsenochoitai more plainly as "homosexuals." The current view that gender preference in sexual activity is irrelevant opposes God's instruction and cannot be accepted by Christians, even though it makes them look absurd to those who consider themselves liberated and progressive.

      Second, all sexual activity is to be confined strictly within the bond of marriage. Husband and wife may in all innocence seek physical gratification to the extent of their mutual desire and capacity. Heb. 13:4 puts God's seal of approval upon it. Neither marriage partner is to deny the other's physical desire without good reason, and then only for a limited time, (I Cor. 7:3-5).

PURSUE PEACE AND SANCTIFICATION

Heb. 12:14 ... "Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord."

          When Moses was on Mt. Sinai in the process of receiving the Law from God, he dared make this request of the unseen Presence who was speaking to him, "I pray You, show me Your glory," (Ex. 33:18). Throughout the Bible people showed a deep-seated fear in having a vision of God, thinking it meant instant death, (e.g. Jdg. 13:22). It is therefore amazing that Moses was bold enough to ask such an incomparable privilege, but it is far more amazing that God answered him: "I Myself will make all My Goodness pass before you ... [but] ... you cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!" (vs. 19-20). Although man in corruptible flesh cannot see God in the literal sense, man in the spirit made perfect (Heb. 12:23) will be granted such supreme favor. It should be the highest hope and greatest aspiration of a person's life to enter into God's presence some day and behold The One in whose image he was created. This is the greatest reward in human existence, and anyone should be willing and even eager to sacrifice whatever is necessary to lay hold upon it. One's attitude should always be that expressed in Php. 3:8, "I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ."

      One of the things one must sacrifice is his lifestyle that incorporates "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life," (I John 2:16). These insidious forces which act upon the soul are oriented toward the worldly life, so that the more one surrenders himself to their power the further they will lead him away from God. Eventually they will draw him into the pollution of sin that will contaminate his soul, corrupt his mind, and defile his conscience, thus putting him beyond the Lord's willingness to fellowship further with him. In speaking of His heavenly home, the Lord informs us that "nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it," (Rev. 21:27). Sanctification (or holiness) is the state wherein the soul's contamination, the mind's corruption, and the conscience's defilement have all been removed, leaving the person pure and clean in the virgin condition God first created him. This purification unto sanctification is accomplished by the power of the atoning blood of Jesus, shed in His death, (Heb. 9:14; Rom. 5:9), when one unites with Him in His death by baptism, (Rom.6:3-6; Acts 22:16; I Pet. 3:21). Unless one enters into ths state of sanctification, our text says, he shall not "see the Lord." Being abominable to God in his condition of defilement and therefore not santified, the person shall not be permitted to come into God's presence in heaven.

      Another sacrifice an individual aspiring to win the divine favor must make is to resolve personal differences with other people that keep relations with them in a state of friction, turmoil, and hostility. "Pursue peace with all men" is the requirement. Though human nature makes it difficult, the Christian must refuse to let himself be provoked by the irritating behavior of other people, especially when it is directed personally at you.The most persuasive argument you can offer an opponent is a peaceful manner characterized by kind, gentle words and benevolent, righteous deeds. We are advised in Pro. 15:1 that "a gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." The strongest defense against the attacks of an adversary is the invulnerable shield of love that "does not act unbecomingly, it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, (I Cor. 13:5). Hostility and strife will not continue when they are not reciprocated, for they will spend themselves upon the bastions of the righteous life and loving soul of a self-controlled Christian. If there are wrongs to be righted and vengeance to be taken, the assaulted person has the wonderful consolation that the Lord Himself, who knows the full truth in every matter, shall take care of it in due time, (Rom. 12:19).