Today on the Verdict with Pastor John Monroe. Here is a magnificent promise in Scripture: In your temptation, and they come to all of us, God is always faithful, and in every every temptation there is always a way of escape. You can always, always rely on the faithfulness and integrity of God. Welcome to the Verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe, Senior Pastor of Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. With fears of inflation and global unrest, it seems there's a lot to worry about.
So, how do we trust God when the future seems so uncertain? Today, we're finding fresh encouragement from the Word of God as we continue our series with Wings Like Eagles.
Now here's Pastor John Monroe. When we go through the struggles and challenges of life, we often feel that we've done something wrong. We might wonder if God is punishing us, but we're learning that these trials and temptations in life come to all of us. Not one of us is exempt. Life is not always easy.
In fact, sometimes life is excruciatingly difficult. But in this series, with wings like eagles, we're learning not only the reality of tough times, but to look beyond them, and through them, and above them to our incredible sovereign God, who is all powerful and also all loving. Let's learn today more about these trials and temptations, so that when we experience them, rather than being defeated, we will be renewed in strength and mount up on wings like eagles. I want us to turn in our Bible to the first chapter of the letter of James, where James writes in the New Testament about trials and temptations. We're going to learn, first of all, You will have trials of various kinds.
James one, verse one. I'm reading from the English Standard Version. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the dispersion, greetings. How did all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds? For you know.
That the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Here's a lesson for us: trials are an important part of the Christian experience. Verse two, James writes, when you meet trials of various kinds. He doesn't say if you meet trials, but when you meet trials, have you grasped this? That life, for followers of Jesus, can be very, very difficult.
That was the teaching of our Lord, John 16:33. Jesus says, "In the world, you will have tribulation." The apostle said, Acts fourteen verse twenty-two, that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. There's more. Secondly, as you follow Jesus, you will have temptations of various kinds. You think is it bad enough to have trials?
Now I'm going to have temptations. Yes. Verse thirteen, James one verse thirteen. Are you ready for this? Let no one say, when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God." For God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one.
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. Or as I follow Jesus, trials come into my life and into yours. But also as I follow Jesus, temptation comes into my life.
Now, temptation to sin is not a sin. Being tempted is not sinful. We have a hymn. We sometimes. Saying, and it has a line in it which says, "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.
Prone to leave the God I love." Isn't that right? I mean, we we we love Jesus Christ, and then what happens?
Some temptation comes, and if we're honest, we're saying, "Yes, we're prone to wander. We're prone to get off the narrow way." And to go off track, every single person here is tempted. Unkindness, dishonesty, lies, gossip, lust, laziness, vengeance, covetousness, false witness. The list goes on and on and on. All of us have sinful desires.
Now, all of us are not tempted in the same way.
Something that may be a temptation to you is no temptation to me at all, and vice versa. But all of us are tempted. You are not an exception. Paul says in First Corinthians ten, verse twelve: "Let the person." Who thinks he stands? Take heed lest he fall.
Have you ever met someone in the Christian life? They think they're so much better. They love judging other people. A person needs to be very, very careful. If you think you're above temptation, you're going to be in for a huge fall.
What is temptation? It's an incitement to sin. No, the temptation, as I say, is not sin. Is being enticed. To sin, remember our Lord, perfect God and perfect Man, was tempted.
For forty days in the wilderness, we read in the Gospels that Jesus was tempted by Satan. Can you imagine the audacity of Satan in tempting Jesus Christ? I find that amazing. He was tempted, so be prepared. To be tempted.
Bring your temptation from the dark to the light, and don't flatter yourself that you have some unique or special temptation. I've had men over the years who say to me, "Well, you don't understand, John. I'm different. I have this special temptation." No, you don't. No, you don't.
Paul says. We're going to read the text. The minute First Corinthians ten thirteen, no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. Don't flatter yourself that you're some kind of special person that you can excuse your sin because you say, "Well, it's different from everyone else's." No, it's not. If we took all of the temptations.
If we were honest enough to write a list, what a long list that would be! Right? All of us are tempted now. Yielding to temptation, James is going to tell us, is sin and has serious consequences. There's a person who is self-righteous and think, "Well, I would never do this." The kind of legalistic.
Pharisaical, judgmental individual, but much more common. There is the individual who says, "Well, yeah, yeah, I did sin, but we all sin. You are not different from me. Yeah, I am not perfect, man," and has a very, very casual view of sin as if it didn't matter. Sin does matter.
Sin has the most serious of consequences.
Now, I know this. How and I think this is brilliant of James. Notice what he says in verse fourteen. Each person, each person, put your name there. Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
Lured and enticed are fishing and hunting terms. See when you're sin, when you're tempted. This lure is dangled in front of you. Enticed, it is very alluring. It is spectacularly fascinating.
It's very, very tempting, isn't it? Temptations come in very subtle. Alluring and pleasurable forms, but here's the point that James wants us to get: that in every case, the lure is hiding the hook. If you bite, you, like the fish, will be hooked, will be captured, will be cleaned and cooked. Here's the temptation in front of you.
You think, "Oh, that's really nice." Of course, it's nice. There'd be no temptation if it wasn't. It is alluring. We have that word in the English language. It is alluring.
It's enticing. But did you notice the end result that James says, verse fifteen? Desire begins with a desire. When it has conceived, takes the hook, gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.
What's the ultimate result of sin? The wages of sin is death.
Now that death doesn't come immediately, but think of it. I want you to think this morning with me of the consequences of your sin. One of the things that Satan does. And he's brilliant at it. He's had, he's had thousands of years' experience.
He is spectacularly good at hiding the hook, and he's spectacularly brilliant in knowing the lure that is going to catch you. He knows you. He watches you. I don't think he can read your mind, but he watches you, and he puts this lure, he puts this temptation right in front of you. And Satan and sin always promise the best.
Now, remember in the story in John two of the turning of water into wine, the guests are amazed. They say, "You've kept the the good wine to the end." Normally, you serve the best wine first when people are a bit drunk. They don't know what they're drinking. Then you give the poorer wine. Satan always gives you the best first.
Take that. Take that drink. Take that drug. Pop into bed with that person. You'll enjoy it.
Lie to that customer. Here is a student, and he started high school, and he's tempted. He's tempted because sometimes he's a bit lazy. Doesn't want to work hard at school, doesn't want to do the homework, right? What's his temptation?
Well, as well as laziness, he's tempted to cheat. Think of the consequence of the student cheating. Think of the consequence of the business person here, the salesperson here, who's trying to get that big deal. And in order to get the deal, they've got to fudge the facts. We call that lying.
We call that bearing false witness. There's a commandment about that: don't tell lies. But this person so wants the deal that they they lie, perhaps about the delivery of the goods or something else. And yes, they get they get it. They're lying is successful.
The student is able to cheat. The student gets an A. But think of the consequences. Even in the immediate terms, that person has already started an easy slope of compromise.
Someone who does that as a freshman at high school—what kind of person are they going to be when they graduate? That salesperson who gets the deal and is congratulated and gets the bonus has to go home, and their spouse say, "Well, how was it today?" And they say, "Well, I got that big deal. I'm going to get a big bonus." And the spouse says, "You're wonderful." And the person says, "No, I'm a cheat. I'm a liar." Sin always has consequences. Think of the consequence.
The little shepherd boy is repeatedly warned by his father to have nothing to do with snakes. One day, when they're out in the hills, the little boy is in his tent. A snake crawls to the entrance of the tent and says to the little boy, "It's cold out here. Will you please pick me up and put me on your stomach? We will keep each other warm." Little boy replies, "My daddy said never to listen to snakes, or to have anything to do with them." Please go away, but the snake persists.
And eventually, the little boy picks up the snake, brings it into the tent, lies down, puts the snake on his stomach. The snake bites him. And as the little boy lies dying, he asks the snake, "Why did you bite me when I brought you into the tent to warm you?" The snake replied, "That's what snakes do." They bite and they poison. You knew what I was before you picked me up, brother, sister. You know what sin is before you pick it up.
You know the disastrous effect of that decision. When you are tempted, you know what sin does.
Now, turn back in your Bibles to First Corinthians ten. And verse thirteen, and you say, John, I'm doomed here. I've I've committed so many sins. I've fallen for so many temptations. Yes, that's true of all of us.
But here's a tremendous encouragement: that when you're tempted, God is always faithful. First Corinthians ten verse thirteen: No temptation has overtaken you that is common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. Isn't that great?
However lonely you are, however vulnerable you feel, you can always, always rely on the faithfulness and integrity of God. Here is a magnificent promise in Scripture: in your temptation—and they come to all of us—God is always faithful, and in every, every temptation, there is always a way of escape. James himself is going to say, "Resist the devil, and he'll flee from you." It's not a matter of great joy if you do that when you're tempted. You resist the devil, leaves you a bit. What a great feeling of thankfulness to God!
See, God is so faithful; He will not allow you to be tempted, says Paul, beyond your ability. There is a limitation on the extent of the temptation. No temptation is so hard, so difficult, so alluring that you must succumb to it. Absolutely not. There will never be a temptation.
Please hear me. There will never be a temptation in your life which is so overpowering, which is so alluring, which is so fierce that you must yield to it. No. God is faithful. He never allows you to be tempted beyond your ability, and God knows your ability.
And in the fiercest of temptations, God will provide a way of escape. Paul says, First Corinthians six eighteen. For example, flee from sexual immorality. A very common way of escape is to flee, is to get out of the situation. What do parents tell their students if they're in a situation?
Go to someone's house, and there's there's alcohol, or there's some porn being shown, or or or some drugs. What do you say? Get out of the house as quickly as possible. Call me. Leave.
Don't stay in the situation. The longer you stay in the situation, the more likely you are to succumb to the temptation. Remember. The story of the little shepherd boy. Every bit of poison is poison.
Every spark of fire is fire. Every bit of sin is sin. You like to think that you can keep just a little bit of sin. You can control sin. You can succumb here and keep sin in his place.
No, the very nature of sin. Is that it takes over, it pervades, it affects your thinking, it it hurts, it damages your very soul. That's why Peter says in one Peter two eleven, abstain from every fleshly lust which wage war against your soul. What did Joseph do, the young man, when this Missus Potiphar comes and tries to seduce him? He says no, and he runs.
He says no. This is Potiphar's house, and there's no one greater than him. Nor has he kept back anything from me, because you're his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Oh, when we sin, we hurt other people, but above all, sin is against God.
And with every temptation, there's a way of escape. But furthermore, John says in First John one, verse nine, that when we sin. And we do. We've all blown it, haven't we? We've all taken the lure.
We've all failed. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Here is the wonder of the gospel: when we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. A wonderful. God so faithful that He provides a way of escape.
But sometimes I don't take the way of escape, and God is so faithful that when I confess my sin, I am truly repentant. I turn from my sin. I cry out to Christ for salvation and forgiveness. He will forgive my sin and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. No sin is so bad, so horrible, so deep.
That God's love and God's grace can't extend to you, and some of you sitting here have have blown it. I want you to look to the cross of Christ and see. There is where my Lord Jesus Christ died for my sins, paid the price, because I've come short, and I ask Him to forgive me. For those of us who are following Christ, be encouraged, be steadfast, be strong, endure. Don't retreat, and God will bless you in incredible ways when you are steadfast, when you endure, and He will give you a crown of life.
What am I saying to you? Live a God-centered life. Keep God at the very center. Wait for the Lord.
Soar high with wings of eagles above these temptations, Psalm twenty seven fourteen. Wait for the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might, he increases strength. Even youths shall faint, and young men shall fall exhausted. But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not be weary.
They will walk and not faint. Father, help us. I pray for my brothers and sisters here. Help them to deal with these trials and temptations. Thank you for your grace.
Thank you, you're a God of forgiveness. Thank you for the strength and the wisdom you give us. For those who don't know Christ, may they even now cry out to Him. You're a good God. And you've supplied salvation for everyone who believes in the name of the Lord, and so is saved.
And when we're buffeted, and when we're in the storms of our life, and when we think we can hardly go on, thank you for reminding us that you are faithful. And thank you that through grace in our Lord Jesus Christ, it is well with our souls. We thank you in Christ's name. Amen. You're listening to The Verdict with the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe.
John will be right back with more on today's message.
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Well, what's your verdict? What has been one of the worst trials in your life? How would you describe some of the fiercest temptations that you've ever experienced? How have you coped with them? Every single follower of Jesus experiences them, but we're learning that God is always faithful, and when we blow it, there is forgiveness through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So today, be strong. Wait for the Lord.
Be courageous. Trust Him, and don't miss next time as we think of situations where we are abandoned by God. Thanks for joining us today on the Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
