Temptation is an inevitable part of the Christian journey, but understanding its purpose and overcoming it is vital for spiritual growth. Pastor Jack Hibbs shares insights from biblical teachings, emphasizing the role of faith and God’s promises in navigating temptation. Through vivid analogies and scriptural references, he provides practical steps for resisting the lure of sin and finding joy in the divine process of overcoming challenges guided by God’s love and providence.
God is using little wimpy you and me to whip Satan’s kingdom now. It seems crazy, doesn’t it? We can’t even see our enemy. He’s invisible. He’s been living for eons. We, such a short period of time, but we have the Holy Spirit living in us and God will use us to overthrow the kingdom of darkness.
SPEAKER 02 :
This is Real Life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I’m David Jay, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God’s Word, the Bible. What if today was the day that Jesus returned? Well, that’s the life-changing perspective explored in One Day Nearer by Steve Miller. And it’s this month’s featured resource from Pastor Jack. Now, this inspiring book helps you focus on the hope that Jesus is returning. And this book offers practical encouragement to live each day with faith, purpose, and joy. One Day Nearer by Steve Miller, available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com slash real radio. That’s jackhibbs.com slash real radio. On today’s edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack now continues his series called The Book of James with a message titled, Why Am I Being Tempted? See, before it became one of the books of the New Testament, James was simply a letter sent to those Jews who chose to follow Christ. but as new believers they really struggled with temptation you see the devil’s desire is to speak lies to us using temptation but it’s the lord’s desire to help us to overcome temptation and give to us the crown of life which by the way he’s promised to those who love him so today pastor jack teaches that god loves us and he’s for us he even likes us believe it or not so then why are we being tempted well it’s so that we might know the will of god because he knows what’s best for us now with his message called why am i being tempted here’s pastor and bible teacher jack hibbs psalm 138 verse 8 says the lord will complete that which concerns me
SPEAKER 03 :
Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands. Isn’t that something? God says, I promise to work with you. And he’s working on us. And the pot or the vessel speaks back to the potter because God’s the potter. He’s molding. He’s shaping. We’re on the thing spinning around. Lord, don’t forsake the work of your hands. Well, he comes back and says, no, no. Kidding, I’m not. He’s doing it, he created us, he’s molding us. It’s like we’re on the wheel and we’re worrying about it. Are you gonna give me a handle and a spout? Are you gonna throw me off the table? Just let him do his work. Well, how does he do it? With trials, difficulty. Why? Because he’s gonna put you on display in the end. He’s going to have you cross the line. We’re going to win. He’s promised. 1 Peter 1, verse 5 says, We who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation is ready to be revealed in these last days. In this you greatly rejoice. In what? That we’re saved. Though now for a little while, if need be, Isn’t that weird? You love somebody you’ve never seen before. You know how stupid that sounds? Who do you love? Jesus. Have you seen him? No. Have you heard his voice? Not exactly. How do you know he’s real? Just do. Isn’t that weird? We are a bunch of weirdos, if you think about it. In whom having not seen, we love him. Though now you do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, which is what? The salvation of your souls. All right, that’s good. God loves us. God’s for us tonight. You may be feeling a little down. This really ministers to me when I think about this. I know God loves me. The Bible says He loves me. I know He’s for us. But you know what I like to hear? God likes me. God likes you. Really? Yes. I didn’t think anybody liked me. I mean, my mother has to love me. But God likes me? Yeah, He likes you. You know when you’re liked? When you’re liked, people want to hang out with you. When you’re light, somebody will say, well, where are you going? Over here. Can I come? Isn’t that a warm feeling? They just want to hang out. Jesus says, well, what are you doing today? Oh, I’ve got to go to work. Can I come? Oh, yeah, sure. He likes us. If he was walking the earth right now and limited to one spot, do you know what I think his great burden would be? to go visit all of his churches. Hi, you guys. How you doing? He likes us. The second thing we need to see tonight regarding our lives and being tempted is in verse 13, so that we might better know the will of God. Verse 13, so that we might better know the will of God. He says, let no one say when he is tempted, I’m tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. Now listen to this. We have to hurry here. Let no one say that when he is tempted, I’m tempted by God. This is a rebuke. that James is saying. He’s saying, by the way, the word, this tempted word is the word that is a verb. It means that when the temptation attacks you, now watch this, when the temptation comes out after you or parades in front of you, watch this, it parades in front of you, you cannot say, oh no, oh, God’s the one who’s tempting me. I’ve got to go and sin, God’s tempting me. You might say, well, that’s stupid. Who would say that? I don’t know. I hear it all the time. I hear it all the time from people. Maybe not in that word. Maybe in a different word like, well, why did God let me do this? Have you ever heard that before? That is absolute sin of some of the worst kind. It is to say, God tempts with evil. That’s what you’re saying. Well, if God is God and he’s powerful, why did he let me fall like this? That’s horrible. That is to say that God has tempted you with evil and he’s pulled you away with evil, which implies that he is unrighteous, that he’s a liar, that he’s a cheat, that he wants your destruction. When we say, well, if God’s God, why didn’t he just cause that situation to be remote from me? No, God gave you feet to run with. This is a fallen world we’re living in, friend, and God wants us to get away from what is evil. He’s warned us. The fact of the matter is when somebody indicts themselves by saying such things, what they’re really saying is, I don’t know anything about the will of God. I scarcely know God. I don’t read my Bible and I’m confused. And they blame God. They begin to blame him for their situation. They don’t know the will of God better. They lash out and they say, let no one say, or James is saying, don’t say that you’re tempted by God because God can’t be tempting you. He won’t do that. Oh God, somebody knocked on my door and they were pushing drugs. And I just fell right out of my screen door and got hooked on heroin. God, why’d you do that? He doesn’t do that. He’s not that way. By the way, Abraham was tempted. He was tempted. He panicked. He took his eyes off of God. He panicked and he left Israel. where he was supposed to be and where’d he go? Went to Egypt, got in big trouble. Lot was tempted. He saw the well-watered plains of Sodom and Gomorrah. And he said, oh man, that looks good. Great place for a golf course in this climate, it’s perfect. And he took off down there. He blew it. David, David looked at Bathsheba. It wasn’t the first look that was the problem. In fact, David probably went, oh, man. And then when he looked back, it was the second look that killed him. Remember, being tempted is not the sin. Letting it in, entertaining it. is what kills kings and ruins kingdoms. 1 Corinthians 15.33 says, do not be deceived, evil company corrupts good behavior. Very important passage of scripture when you consider the fact that we ought to know the will of God and we cannot say that our particular environment is what’s leading us to sin, although it can entice us. The fact is we give in to what is being paraded in front of us. Verse 13, let no one say when he is tempted, I’m tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. Again, we talked about the blaming of God. Another thing that manifests itself, when a person is not trusting God and doesn’t know the will of God, they’ll blame others for their fallen condition. They’ll blame God or they’ll blame others or they’ll blame those that are around them or their environment. It’s this country or it’s this country. law that’s in effect or whatever it might be. They’re blaming God, they’re blaming others. In fact, we call this self-justification. If at any time somebody has fallen down in sin, Christian or not, doesn’t matter. And you speak to them about their condition and they justify how they fell, why they fell and where they have fallen. If they justify it, know this, there’s no repentance in their heart. They’re in fact blaming God, they’re blaming the city, or they’re blaming you. And there’s no repentance in such a thing. We are to know and understand God’s will regarding temptation. Evil company. God doesn’t want us in the midst of evil company. We so often fall down because we get into situations that he doesn’t want us to be in.
SPEAKER 02 :
You’re listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. You know, to hear more episodes and maybe catch up in the series, just go to jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. And for now, let’s get back to our teaching. Once again, here’s Pastor Jack.
SPEAKER 03 :
James chapter 4, verses 1 through 4 says, Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your own desires for pleasure? Yeah. that war in your members? You lust and you don’t have, you murder and you covet and you don’t obtain, you fight and you war, yet you do not have because you do not ask from God. You ask and you do not receive because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your own pleasures. James is so subtle, adulterers and adulteresses. Do you not know that friendship with the world is warfare against God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend with the world makes himself an enemy of God. And that’s serious. Stop justifying your condition. Repent of it and get back home to God. Know what God’s will is, that He doesn’t tempt us with evil. God doesn’t cause us to stumble. I’ve gotten away from church. I’ve gotten away from the Bible. I’m not praying anymore. I’m kind of just, you know, popping some beers every now and then, doing a little coke, you know, just recreational stuff. You know, the Lord just kind of just put me out the pasture a little bit. That’s blasphemy. The Lord? By the way, you know what? Well, I’m just tired of hearing that. I hear it all the time. I don’t know what Jesus is doing in my life. Well, what’s happened? I’ve been sleeping with this guy, and I got really sick, and I’ve got this disease, and I don’t know what God’s doing to me. I hear this. Excuse me, you got a disease because you’re sleeping with this guy, and God didn’t want this to happen. You see, people blame him. They’re not meant to be. It’s not new to us, though. We’re kind of looking like, there, Remember Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve had sinned? Remember they’re in the garden, they’re sewing, they got their sewing machine out there, man, sewing all these fig leaves together, branches and palm trees and bark and everything. Look like Al Gore on Earth Day, you know, out there. Genesis 3, 8 says, and they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord called out to Adam and said, now follow along with me, listen carefully. Where are you, Adam? Okay, the next time God says, where are you, Jack? This is what we learn from this story. Jump out from the bushes and say, I’m right here. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do it. You know what God would do if we would do that? He’d say, okay, come here. Come here. It’s all right. You’re okay. Why? Repentance is already in the heart. I’m so sorry. Okay, come here, come here, come here. It’s okay, it’s okay. You know, if Adam, if Adam would have said, we’re over here, we’re over here, we blew it. You know what? I believe with all of my heart. I believe it. I think it’s biblically correct that God would have said, come here, come here. You’re okay. But no. What do they do?
SPEAKER 1 :
Shh, shh.
SPEAKER 03 :
Don’t say no. And E’s probably going, don’t say a word. Boy, I love when little kids, man, when they’re busted, did you do that? The jaw’s flapping, the ears, they’re welling up. Oh man, that’s when you pick them up and say, it’s okay, kiddo, don’t do it again, okay? It’s when they go, no, I didn’t do it. I don’t know who did it. That’s when you’ve got to, you know, get out the whatever you use. Where are you? And so he said, finally, I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. And he said, God said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the fruits of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? Of course, God knew this. He’s trying to get a confession from him. Then the man said, are you ready? I accept full responsibility. God, lay it on me. The first thing out of Adam’s mouth, the first thing, it’s that woman you gave me. Can you believe it? It says it right here in your Bible. Did you do something wrong? It was that woman, Lord, I don’t know what got into her. So then God says, woman, what did you do? And she says, you know that rotten snake? She goes right to the snake, and the snake didn’t have a leg to stand on. Adam, woman. Eve, snake. Snake turns around. Pass the buck. Pass the buck. Don’t ever underestimate the human potential to justify their condition. That’s why repentance from a life that is away from God is one of the most impossible things to even see happen. But thank God through his divine intervention, it is possible. People turn. So funny. Fact is, Satan can tempt us as he did our mom and dad in the beginning in the garden, but they didn’t have to yield to it. In 2 Peter 2, verse 9, the Bible says, the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation. That’s a promise from God. In 1 Corinthians 10, 13, the scripture says, no temptation has come into your life except that which is common to all men. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond that which you are able to bear, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it. The Lord pulls off the mask of the temptation. And then finally this, the final point, is in verses 14 to 15. Why am I being tempted? So that I will overcome Satan here and now, today in our lives. God is using little wimpy you and me to whip Satan’s kingdom now. It seems crazy, doesn’t it? We can’t even see our enemy. He’s invisible. He’s been living for eons. We, such a short period of time, but we have the Holy Spirit living in us and God will use us to overthrow the kingdom of darkness. Why am I being tempted? Because God will use Satan’s attack to overthrow us and wind up taking what he meant for evil and make it out for good. It’s incredible. We’ll go through this quickly. And this is a fun passage of scripture. Verse 14, “‘But each one of us is tempted.'” when we are drawn away by our own desires and enticed. Then, when desire is conceived, it brings birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown up, brings forth death. Real quickly, three key words in the Greek language we need to look at, and they’re all fishing terms, by the way. They’re words used for fishing. The first one in verse 14 is drawn away. It’s one word in the Greek, and it means to drag forth from a spot, to lure out into the open. And again, it’s a fishing term. To lure away from the fish’s hiding spot where that fish is hanging out. To be drawn away is to lure the fish out into the open. That’s how Satan sees you and I, like a fish. And his plan is to lure, draw you out into the open. The next word is own desires. Again, one word. It means our forbidden longings that we have inside. All of us are tempted on the inside. It’s our flesh. Our flesh wants things. Our flesh wants to touch, to feel, to whatever. Satan knows this. So when he, listen, takes his little lure, puts it over there, and you’re sitting there safe in the rock, and you see this angle right by. Hmm, what is that? Comes by again. Oh, that’s nice. It’s shiny. I’m like, hmm. Next word is enticed. To hook or to net, to entrap. The word means to beguile by trickery. It’s a fishing term. It means to bait the hook. Think about it. You throw a fish hook on the water with your rod and you’re reeling it by and that fish sits there and goes, stupid fisherman, that’s just a hook. I can see that. Then he throws it out again and he goes by and that fish just laughs, you know. Then the fisherman puts bait on the hook and he throws it out there. And now it appeals to the internal desire of the fish. Oh, what was that? The light’s just right coming off the water. The speed of it, the way it wiggles. Hey, if I see that again, no, I have to, no, I’m fine. I’m not even hungry. I’m okay. I’m fine. I’m fighting this. I’m not yielding. I’m staying strong. I’m a good born again fish. I’m hanging in there. And then it goes by again. Well, I better just go out and take a little look at this thing. Oh no, you’ve been drawn away. Now you’re being enticed. Now what happens? Hey, you may not even have to bite the hook. You might get snagged. You ever caught a fish that’s been snagged? You just snag them. Now you’re out from protection and you’re swimming around. Hey, look at that. In fact, all your friends from school, fish school, they could come and they go, hey, look, look, everyone, look, we can tell what this is. It’s just a hook until they bait it. And Satan’s a master at baiting the hook. Oh yeah, well, I saw that hook coming a long time ago. Yeah, you know what? I know some people see the hook. Some people don’t even see the hook. Fish can go into such a frenzy, you can throw a hook into the water and they’ll bite it. Can you imagine Satan coming up? Hey, how you doing? I know you. You’ve got red underwear on and pitchfork and all this. I know who you are. But listen, what happens if somebody comes by and goes, hi, big fella? You know, my name’s Bubbles. You can call me Lucy for short. And what are you doing tonight? Hello? It’s a hook. There’s hardly any bait on it. But what happens? Oh, huh? What? Or somebody comes by and says, hi, you know, I’m autoimmune deficiency syndrome, but you can call me HIV. Come on. One night with me and you’ll be condemned to death and you’ll die a wretched life. Oh, come on, bite the hook. He’s like, you’re crazy. No way. Somebody comes up and says, hi, my name’s Joe Cocaine. Draw a line of me and snort it up just a little bit. And hey, you’re hooked. Satan dresses it all up. He doesn’t have some prostitute come out and say, hey, come after me. No, man, you’re diseased. You’re a mess. You’re destroying my life. You’re no good. No, no, no. He knows how to come to you. He knows how to bait the hook that you’ll bite. The thing is, you don’t have to bite. You fight rather than bite. You ward him off because the Bible tells us that we are able to fight against the satanic attacks of the enemy.
SPEAKER 02 :
pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio with his message called, Why Am I Being Tempted? You know, this message, by the way, is part of Pastor Jack’s series called The Book of James. It’s a series on being doers of the Word of God and not just hearers only. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
SPEAKER 01 :
So as you heard from our broadcast, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And if you’d like to know what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life personally, we would love to help you out with that. Go to jackhibbs.com slash know God. That’s K-N-O-W, God. And there you’ll be guided through what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life and the freedom that you’ll find in knowing God. Don’t miss out. That’s the Know God tab at jackhibbs.com.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hey everybody, brand new year. Listen to this. What a promise. Psalm 65, 11, God there announces that his paths drip with abundance and he makes his way prosperous. So listen, draw close to God, enjoy the new year in Christ, celebrate him every day and everything that you do. Listen, let God’s work in your life be an incredible witness to other people. Bring them along. Bring them along with you into the kingdom of heaven. Love on them. Listen, the people in your life who are not Christians, start treating them like a Christian. Watch what happens. Share the joy of the Lord because you can. And exalt in his liberty and freedom because he’s given it to you. Let’s have an awesome new year in Jesus Christ together. Amen.
SPEAKER 02 :
This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in His Word. We’ll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.
