The Blame Game

Series: Authentic Faith

May 01, 2022
Frank Foreman

Whose fault is it when we find ourselves facing temptation? Is it God, testing us, asking us to prove our faithfulness by staying firm in our conviction to not succumb to the pressure? Is it Satan, probing our perceived or actual weaknesses, waiting for us to fail so that he might accuse us and mock our commitment to the Father? ---------- The answer, according to James is actually much less complicated. While God is certainly aware of the temptations we face and while Satan, the "father of lies," certainly is a source for many temptations we face, the responsibility for enduring or yielding to temptation belongs to us.

Episode Notes

Proverbs 19:3, When a man's folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the LORD.


Big Idea:  God is in no way responsible for my being tempted.


1.  The nature of evil.


(Journal) James 1:13


Leviticus 19:1-2, And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.


2.  The nature of man.


(Journal) James 1:14


2nd Peter 2:14-15a, They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray.


3.  The nature of lust.


(Journal) James 1:15-16


Ephesians 2:1-3, And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.


4.  The nature of God.


(Journal) James 1:17


Luke 11:13, If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!


(Journal) James 1:18


Next Step:  I take full responsibility for what tempts me and how I respond.


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