Members Message November 2025
Members Message
Temptation - Training in James In this new series, Faith in Action: A Series on the Book of James, Bruce Billington guides us through James’s powerful letter—written with urgency and moral clarity. This study will challenge us to grow beyond being mere believers, becoming true disciples who live out an authentic and practical Christianity. 🎧Listen now to part 3 as we begin to reframe our hardships while journeying through the Book of James.
Introduction
Question - How many listeners today would have no objection to God writing all the thoughts you've had over the last 24 hours on a PowerPoint that everyone on this call can see? Most of us wouldn’t want that because we don’t have complete control over what thoughts come to us. However, James provides us with powerful tools to prevent these thoughts from leading to action. James 1:13-15 – “13 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. 14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”. Sin commonly works this way:- First, the temptation enters our minds as a thought. There is nothing shameful about this; we all have ungodly desires. The Bible says even Jesus was tempted in all things (Hebrews 4:15), which meant that sinful thoughts entered His head. Temptation will be with us throughout our entire journey on this planet. But where the trouble begins is at stage two, as shown in verse 15. Lust only turns into action once it has been conceived. What this shows us is that we have time to decide whether to act or not. A sinful desire first forms in the mind - in our thought life. We can't stop ourselves from being tempted to sin, but while the temptation passes through our minds, it hasn't yet resulted in any sin. The issue isn't the evil desire or thoughts - although we might want to think about what we're feeding our minds, as what we allow ourselves to watch or see plays a significant role in this.
- Don't try to guess where sin will originate. It's often the least obvious thing that becomes the real danger.
- Avoid wandering in a sinful thought pattern - stay alert and keep your guard or shield up. The devil is always on the lookout.
- Be aware of your strengths – biblical characters often stumbled over their strengths, not just their weaknesses.
- Don’t resist sin - hate it.
Hating Sin
Sin corrupts our character. We are all created in the image of God, but sin causes us to develop a character that is completely opposite to His image and is very harmful, not only to ourselves but also to those around us. God despises sin because it separates us from Him, and He wants to have a close personal relationship with us. It also affects our relationships with those around us, including the community and the created order. The key to freedom is not to spend all our time and energy trying to resist sin - but to learn to hate it. There is a big difference between resisting sin and hating it. The Bible calls us to hate it. (Romans 12:9; Proverbs 8:13). Freedom arises from hating sin – our disdain for it outweighs any longing we might feel. Unless we recognise this and learn how to deal with it, our Christian life is going to be miserable and condemning.
A Lasting Solution
2 Corinthians 10:5 – “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,”. Spirit-empowered believers must take every thought captive and bring it into obedience to Christ. When confronted with ideas or opportunities that could lead to wrongful desires, we all face a choice. We can recognise the danger and turn away, or we can allow unhealthy thoughts to dominate us. We “capture” our fantasies and desires when we honestly admit them to the Lord and ask Him to redirect our thinking. We disempower them when we confess them to someone because once sin comes into light, it loses most of its power. Jesus has already empowered us to be free from anything that seeks to rule over us (except Him). Whether it's lust, fear, envy, greed, or anything else— in Christ, we can be set free from these things. The cross of Calvary was a once-and-for-all, final, and complete payment for sin for all who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. Although it has been defeated, unless we learn to deal with sin ruthlessly in our lives, it will continually revive, plunder, and pillage our hearts, drain our spiritual strength, and dismantle the community around us. It’s not who we are by God’s design, but it becomes a cling-on that constantly produces harmful and destructive things in our lives.
Redemptive Thoughts
Who wins in the battle between our fallen and redeemed nature? If you quote 1 John 4:4 you are wrong.
The one that wins is the one we feed the most.
Wow.
A Good Question
What percentage of your time do you spend reading the Word of God compared to everything else you read or feed your mind on?
Hebrews 4:12 – “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”.
Taking it to the Next Level
A higher state of mind and spiritual insight can only be achieved through the elevated practice of personal character. If we live up to the highest and best that we know in our outer life, God will continually say to us, “Friend, come up even higher.” There is also a consistent pattern in temptation that calls us to reach higher (which is actually lower), but when we do, we only encounter other temptations and character traits. Both God and Satan use the strategy of elevation, but Satan employs it in temptation, and the outcome is quite different from when God uses it. When the devil lifts us to a certain height, our lives become a spiritual acrobatic act, much like walking on a high wire. We cling to it, trying to keep our balance and constantly worrying about falling off. But when God lifts us by His grace into heavenly places, we discover a vast plateau where we can move freely and with ease. In Genesis 18:17, we read where God says, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing…?” This pertains to making Abraham into a great and mighty nation. The example here reveals that God must withhold His plans from us until, through the growth of our personal character, we reach a level at which He can reveal them. Sin acts as a barrier to this, and it is certainly not worth the sacrifice.
No Condemnation
God doesn’t want us to feel guilty or condemned – He is not waiting for us to sin so He can punish us. He wants us to be free. He loves us and sent His Son to suffer and die so we may experience true freedom. The key to all of this is that we have the power to resist temptation from the start - but if we fail at that point – and we all do at times in our lives - we have the power of confession to be forgiven and set free from guilt and condemnation. This truly reflects the Lord's heart in this behaviour. It's not about condemnation – it's about empowering us over sin and guiding us through the wonderful process of returning to the Lord if we stumble. 1 John 1:7 – “but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”.1 John 1:8 – “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.”.1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”. God bless, Bruce Billington