Carried Away by Our Lust

11/8/1992

I want to offer another thought about this process of growing to actually live in and experience freedom from the power of sin in your life and in my life. Not long ago, I was pondering something that our brother James had written (the Lord’s half-brother), and I’ll read to you the part that went through my mind:

“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. And when lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”

And, of course, that scripture clearly identifies where the responsibility lies. We can’t blame God for sin, because God doesn’t tempt in the sense that He makes people sin. He clearly places the responsibility on our shoulders. He said, “Don’t let anyone say, ‘God did this to me’ or even ‘satan did this to me.’” The fact is that the scriptures say, “Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.” And the word “own” there in the Greek is emphatic. His OWN lust. The responsibility in God’s mind is very clearly on our own shoulders. It’s that weakness I was talking about earlier, those areas of our lives that are not yet consecrated to God. Those areas of our lives that we have held onto, or we’ve not dealt a forceful blow to, we’ve not brought out into the light for exposure and for dealing. Those are the areas that, if we hold onto them, satan will find a way to tempt us.

Some of the terminology in this in the Greek is fishing terms. The “bait” that satan drops for us...it’s based on our own lust, our own hunger for that bait that causes us to fall into this trap. “Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.” “Carried away...” We’ve all felt that feeling of knowing there is some temptation in front of us, whether it’s food or some other form of indulgence, or whatever it is. You’ve felt that feeling of almost being carried away into that thing, but it’s your own lust in your heart that is causing that to happen. And he said when this lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

I had that verse go through my mind at a time when I was enduring some temptation, and it was like, “Yeah, okay, I take responsibility. It’s my own lust, it’s my own appetite for sin. I can’t blame anybody for being enticed in this way and feeling this drawing toward sin. I can’t blame anybody, but alright, James, you’ve correctly identified the problem for me!” (I actually yelled this out verbally-- there wasn’t anybody around.) I said, “Alright, James, so you see the problem and I see the problem, but what’s the answer?! Don’t just tell me the problem, I already know the problem.” And then I thought, “Well, I wonder if he did say anything else about that whole thing.” And so I got out the context, the passage, and looked at it on both sides, and I did see some things that were real helpful, and I want to pass those on.

To back up one verse... “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial.” “Trial” and “temptation” are oftentimes interchanged in the scripture; could be translated either way. “Blessed is the man who perseveres under temptation (or trial), for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised for those who love Him.” Now that’s a real good start for me. Then he goes right on to say that here is the way sin is conceived in our life, and it has to do with our own lust. But “blessed is he who perseveres under trial” and under temptation.

So the first thing I thought...”Well, James, you did help me a little bit, anyway. I need to have an attitude of perseverance. I need to have an attitude of not being a quitter!” Alright, so if I fall into this thing, or if I get battered by it again and again, and it just won’t go away, what am I going to do? I’m going to throw up my hands and quit? Say, “Ah, well, Jesus lied. The things that I thought the scriptures said, they just don’t work. “ Am I a quitter? Do I run, do I hide, do I wag my finger at God? Don’t let anyone say the Lord tempted. Don’t blame God about this thing, is what he is saying. Persevere under this thing. Be willing to persevere under the trial, under the heat and the fire of temptation and difficulty. Be willing to persevere. Have that attitude that you are not going to be a quitter! You will NOT be a quitter; you will persevere. You’ll keep fighting and fighting, because if you do the promise is, the approval of God as we persevere in these things will result in a crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Now does it say the Lord has promised His crown of life to those that execute flawlessly? That live perfectly? Certainly that is His desire for us, but that’s not the issue. If you love Him enough to persevere, He has a crown of life that He has promised you. See, I can persevere for that, because I don’t have any problem loving Him. I mean, I have a problem sometimes with my own flesh warring against the Spirit, and the Spirit waging war against the flesh, as Paul said in Galatians 5. I have a problem with that and I hate that, I despise that, and I hate when I get carried away and enticed, because I know it’s my own fault. There’s something in my life that I have allowed to stay there, that satan has found a place inside of my heart where he can jab at me and poke at me. It’s something that hasn’t yet been consecrated to God, so it’s a weak spot and he can keep pushing that button and pushing that button. Well, I hate that, and I don’t want that to be the case, but I know this much, that He has a crown of life awaiting me if I will persevere, because He has promised. That helps me a lot, because my attitude of A) loving Him, and B) persevering no matter what happens, rise or shine, fall or stand, I’m going to love Him and I’m going to persevere. I’m going to stand right by His side and let His Blood wash me, and let His Spirit envelope me and cover me, and I will not be a quitter. I’m gonna go on loving Him, because He’s got a crown of life for me if I persevere, if I stay after it.

That was one thing that James offered to his brothers 2,000 years later as he endured these things, as he fought these battles, as he had to suffer these things in his flesh; he found some answers, and that’s good news. Persevere and love Him, and He’s got a crown of life stored up for us, if we’ll persevere and continue to love Him.

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights from whom there is no variation, no shifting shadow.” The Father does not vary, He does not shift, even if we’re wrestling in the flesh and these things are battering us, we can persevere because we know the Father is not like shifting shadows; He’s stable and He’s true and He’s righteous. He’s holy, and He’s standing firm in the storm, and if we can just reach out and grab ahold of Him, then we’ll also endure the storm. It’s sort of like grabbing onto a tree in the middle of a 50 mile an hour gust of wind. You grab onto something that you can hold onto that is going to stand, and you also will stand. That was, again, part of the promise that James offered to us, is the Father is not like shifting shadows. He is trustworthy and sure and faithful, and if we can hold onto Him when the gale-force winds begin to pound, then we’re not going to be restless and shaken and shifting shadows either.

“In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we might be, as it were, first fruits among His creatures.”

“In the exercise of His will”....It was His desire, His stated spoken will that He would birth us into the kingdom of the Beloved Son. He brought us forth by the word of truth.... and that will come into play here again in a second.....We were born by the word of truth, by responding, by hearing the eternal word of God and by giving our hearts to it, by believing the Word that came from heaven, Jesus Christ. By believing that, He brought us forth and made us the first fruits of creation. He deposited something in us that was supernatural. If we’ve truly been born a second time, if we’ve truly been born a second time, then He birthed us and brought us forth by the word of truth to establish us in the life of His Son.

“In the exercise of His will, He brought us forth by the word of truth so that we might be, as it were, the first fruits among His creatures. This you know my beloved brother, but let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” So here he states as an obstacle to living in the word of truth, and being established in the word of truth, and embracing the Man from heaven who is not shifting shadows, the one that the Father has given to us...an obstacle to be able to walk in the security and the peace and the power that’s His, if we have first been born a second time, is our anger. He said be sure and be quick to hear and slow to speak and slow to anger, because those things-- the anger of man, and the talkativeness of man, the reaction nature of man just to blab out or to respond to something-- that those things interfere with our ability to walk in the Spirit. They set us up to be enticed and to be carried away off into the will of the evil one, and to be brought to a place of death in our lives, in our hearts, in certain areas.

“Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls, but prove yourselves...” (“again and again and again and again” is the word) “...prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”