TEMPTATION: WHOS TO BLAME

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TEMPTATION WHOS TO BLAME? James 113 - 18
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For we know that the law is spiritual, but I
am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not
understand my own actions. For I do not do what I
want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do
what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it
is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but
sin that dwells within me. For I know that
nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.
For I have the desire to do what is right, but
not the ability to carry it out. For I
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do not do the good I want, but the evil I do
not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do
what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it,
but sin that dwells within me So I find it to be
a law that when I want to do right, evil lies
close at hand. For I delight in the law of God,
in my inner being, but I see in my members
another law waging war against the law of my mind
and making me captive to the law of sin that
dwells in my members.
- Romans 714 - 23
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Unlike trials, which God initiates and uses to
purify and perfect us, temptations are not
initiated by God and are conflicting with his
very nature. James wants us to see that yielding
to temptation is our own willful choice.
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GOD DOES NOT TEMPT US
Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being
tempted by God for God cannot be tempted with
evil, and he himself tempts no one
- James 113
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GOD DOES NOT TEMPT US
What must be understood is that temptation is an
impulse to sin, and since God is not susceptible
to any such desire for evil he cannot be seen as
desiring that it be brought about in man
- S. Laws, A Commentary on James, page 71
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GOD DOES NOT TEMPT US
There is none holy like the Lord
- I Samuel 22
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GOD DOES NOT TEMPT US
You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and
cannot look at wrong
- Habakkuk 113
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WE ARE TEMPETED BY OUR OWN EVIL DESIRES
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
- James 114 - 15
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WE ARE TEMPETED BY OUR OWN EVIL DESIRES
Be sober-minded be watchful. Your adversary the
devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking
someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith
- I Peter 58 - 9
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WE ARE TEMPETED BY OUR OWN EVIL DESIRES
With irresistible power desire seizes mastery
over the fleshIt makes no difference whether it
is sexual desire, or ambition, or vanity, or
desire for revenge, or love of fame and power, or
greed for moneyJoy in God isextinguished in us
and we seek all our joy in the creature. At this
moment God is quite unreal to us, he loses all
reality, and only desire for the creature is
real
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WE ARE TEMPETED BY OUR OWN EVIL DESIRES
Satan does not here fill us with hatred of God,
but with forgetfulness of GodThe lust thus
aroused envelops the mind and will of man in
deepest darkness. The powers of clear
discrimination and of decision are taken from us.
The questions present themselves Is what the
flesh h desires really sin in this case?
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WE ARE TEMPETED BY OUR OWN EVIL DESIRES
Is it really not permitted to me, yes
expected of me, now, here, in my particular
situation, to appease desire?It is here that
everything within me rises up against the Word of
God
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Temptation, page 33
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GOD IS HOLY AND HAS CALLED US TO REFLECT HIS
CHARACTER
Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every
good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights with whom
there is no variation or shadow due to change. 
Of his own will he brought us forth by the word
of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits
of his creatures
- James 116 - 18
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• Give priority to the reading and application of
  the Scriptures. I have stored up your word in my
  heart, that I might not sin against you (Psalm
  11911).

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• Give priority to the reading and application of
  the Scriptures. I have stored up your word in my
  heart, that I might not sin against you (Psalm
  11911).
• Prayerfully ask the Holy Spirit to empower you to
  resist the temptations you face. Jesus taught us
  to pray daily lead us not into temptation, but
  deliver us from evil (Matthew 613).

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• Give priority to the reading and application of
  the Scriptures. I have stored up your word in my
  heart, that I might not sin against you (Psalm
  11911).
• Prayerfully ask the Holy Spirit to empower you to
  resist the temptations you face. Jesus taught us
  to pray daily lead us not into temptation, but
  deliver us from evil (Matthew 613).
• Acknowledge your weaknesses, the areas in which
  you struggle spiritually