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Warren Wiersbe - God's Word on Temptation, Part 3 - 3 of 20
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[Music]
welcome to back to the Bible Radio
featuring best-selling author and
internationally known Bible teacher Warren
Warren
weby thank you for opening your Bible to
James chap 1 as we consider the fourth
barrier that God has erected to keep us
off of the path of sin now James has
told us already of three of these barriers
barriers
he tells us to look ahead and notice
God's judgment he warns us that we
cannot sin and get away with it then he
encourages us to look around and to
notice God's goodness every good gift
comes from God we don't need any of the
devil's bait then he tells us to look
within at God's nature down inside James
1:8 and to allow the new nature to
control us this is what Paul calls
walking in newness of
Life the fourth barrier is the word of
God he tells us to look into God's word
and you'll notice in verses 18 through
25 that the emphasis is on the word of
God let me read these verses to you of
his own will begot he us with the word
of truth that we should be a kind of
first fruits of his creatures
wherefore my beloved Brethren let every
man be swift to hear slow to speak slow
to wrath for the wrath of man worketh
not the righteousness of God wherefore
put away all filthiness and overflowing of
of
wickedness and receive with meekness the
engrafted or the implanted word which is
able to save your souls but be ye doers
of the word and not hearers only
deceiving your own selves for if any be
a hearer of the word and not a doer he
is like a man beholding his natural face
in a mirror for he beholdeth himself and
forgetthe gazes into the perfect law of
Liberty and continueth in it he being
not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the
work this man shall be blessed in his
doing now you notice that over and over
again the word of God is mentioned in
verse 18 it's the word of Truth in verse
21 it is the engrafted word or the
implanted word and then down in verse 25
it is the law of Liberty the word of God
can keep us from sin now the psalmist
knew this he said wherewith all shall a
young man cleanse his way or how can a a
young person keep his way clean that's a
good question because we live in such a
dirty world and the answer comes by
taking heed according to Thy word the
psalmist also said Thy word have i
hidden my heart treasured in my heart
guarded in my heart why that I might not
sin against thee Jesus said to his
disciples there in the upper room now
you are clean through the word which I
have spoken unto you when our lord Jesus
met Satan in the wilderness and three
times Satan tempted Jesus three times
the Lord Jesus used the sword of the
spirit which is the word of God he said
it is written again it is written it is
written now my friend the word of God
will keep you from yielding to
Temptation do you spend time with the
word of God that's a good question now
we have time for so many things but do
you take time for the word of God we
spoke in a previous lesson about this
new nature that we have down inside
James 1:18 of his own will begot he Us
by the word of Truth the same word that
gave birth to that new nature sustains
that new nature the same word of God
that gives you life strengthens that
life as newborn babes wrote Peter desire
the unadultered ated milk of the word
that you may grow thereby and you know
the more you grow the stronger you're
going to be and the stronger you are the
easier it's going to be to face the
tempter and to get Victory let's take
these three descriptions of the Bible
and apply them to our lives Verse 18 of
James 1 the word of Truth God's word is
the word of Truth therefore we should
hear it we should learn it it is God's
truth now the devil's a liar every
Temptation involves a lie we saw back in
verse 14 that the picture of Temptation
is the picture of a hunter or a
fisherman every man is tempted when he
is drawn away of his own desire now that
little phrase drawn away means the
baiting of a trap a hunter puts bait on
the Trap and he is drawn away of his own
desire or lust and he is enticed and the
word enticed there carries the meaning
of a baited hook Satan is a hunter of
souls s Satan is a a Fisher for souls he
wants to hook you he wants to trap you
and so he always uses bait but that bait is
is
deceptive he said to the woman you shall
be as God knowing good and evil Genesis
chter 3 and she believed that that was a
lie in one sense it was true in another
sense it was a lie Satan is a liar he's
a deceiver and if you know the word of
Truth he won't fool you my friend your
mind and your heart should become like a
spiritual computer you and I should have
so much of the word of God stored in our
hearts in our minds that when we Face a
Temptation automatically God gives us
the answer answer we shouldn't have to
thumb our way through the Bible we
shouldn't have to reach for our
concordance occasionally we do but we
should be like the Lord Jesus who was
able to reach into his heart and pull
out the book of Deuteronomy and three
times quote from it so it is called the
word of truth because it wants to bring
truth to my mind and Truth to my heart
now how do I respond to this word of
Truth well verse 19 tells me be swift to hear
hear
slow to speak and slow to get angry are
you Swift to hear the word of God it's
amazing what we respond to swiftly the
thing you love is what you respond to
swiftly the mother hears the baby crying
and and swiftly she runs to the baby's
little bed now says James be swift to
hear the word of God and then be swift
to listen to it to take it in but not to
talk back slow to speak it's hard to
find people who really keep their mouths
shut and listen and James tells me if
the word of Truth is going to keep you
from Temptation and from sin be swift to
hear but be slow to speak don't argue
with God don't talk to God listen to God
Speak Lord for thy servant heareth and
then he says be slow to get angry
sometimes we hear the word of God and we
we react to it we get angry who is God
to tell me this be slow to speak and be
slow to get angry you know why anger
unrighteous anger cannot work the
righteousness of God so it is the word
of Truth we should hear it in verse 21
he tells me that my Bible is the
engrafted word the implanted word now
this happens to be a an agricultural
picture in fact throughout James's
letter there are a number of pictures
that come from the farm he says the word
of God is like seed or like a plant
that's going to be planted or like the
grafting of a branch into a tree it is
the implanted word in the parable of the
SE our lord Jesus says the seed is the
word of God a seed has life in it God's
word has life in it a seed produces
fruit God's word produces fruit a seed
must be planted to do any good God's
word must be planted in the heart to do
any good now he says receive this word
when Paul wrote to the Thessalonians he
said I thank God that when you receive
the word of God you received it not as
the word of men but as it is in truth
the word of God
prepare the soil of your soul is what
James is saying put away all filthiness
and overflowing of wickedness one
translation reads put away all
filthiness and rank growth of wi of
wickedness the rank growth of wickedness
is like weeds like noxious weeds growing
in the soul my friend have you done any
weeding in the garden of your soul
lately have you pulled out some of those
weeds that are taking up the place that
the seed ought to be planted receive the
implanted word that you might be a kind
of first fruits of his creatures now the
third picture he gives us is verse 25
the perfect law of Liberty that's a
strange statement isn't it Law Liberty
we have the idea that where there's law
there's no Liberty where there's liberty
there's no law oh no God knows better
than that there is no true Liberty
without law law means outward constraint
Liberty means inward
compulsion when a person begins studying
the piano or the violin or football or
swimming there is first the outward
constraint first you put yourself under
law and the coach says up down up down
run around the track throw that pass
tackle you're putting yourself under law
do you know why outward law develops inward
inward
discipline this is true of any skill
first there must be the law before there
can be the Liberty now if you and I want
to walk at Liberty and not be trapped by
Temptation we must put ourselves under
the perfect law of Liberty the word of
Truth hear it the implanted word receive
it into your heart pull out the weeds
cultivate the soil of your soul the
perfect law of Liberty obey it
Victory only the word of God can set you
free if you put yourself under the
authority of the word of God you'll
enjoy beautiful Liberty Jesus said in
John chapter 8 the truth of God shall
make you free if the son shall make you
free you shall be free indeed you shall
know the truth the truth shall make you
free but in verses
22 through 25 he compares the word of
God to a mirror listen but be ye doers
of the word and not hearers only
deceiving your own selves for if any be
a hearer of the word and not a doer he
is like a man beholding his natural face
in a mirror for he beholdeth himself and
goeth his way and immediately
forgetthe was but who so gazes into the
perfect law of Liberty and continueth in
it he being not a forgetful hearer but a
doer of the work this man shall be
blessed in his doing the word of God is
a mirror now the mirrors they had back
in those days were not like the very
fine mirrors we have today they were
really a polished bronze a polished
brass and they didn't give a very good
image the mirrors we have today reflect
beautifully and we're even able to use
them in scientific instruments but they
had polished metal mirrors back in those
days usually brass or bronze now the
mirror was used for three purposes examination
examination
restoration and
transformation first of all we use the
mirror of the word of God for
examination that's what he's saying here
in James 1:22 through
2 now there's some people who just open
their Bibles read a verse say a prayer
and away they go or they read the word
of God and say well this doesn't apply
to me or they read the word of God and
say well that does apply to me but they
forget about it James says when you
examine yourself in the word of God be
sure the light is on and be sure you
gaze into this perfect law of Liberty
don't just glance into it gaze into it
let the word of God as a mirror examine
your own heart and life you see you and
and I are either too hard on ourselves
or too easy on ourselves and our friends
are often too easy on us or too hard on
us the mirror of the word of God always
tells the
truth when you hold the mirror of the
word of God up to your life it reveals
the inner man it's sort of an x-ray
mirror now don't just be a hearer of the
word of God the hearer of the word of
God is somebody who just hears it it
goes in one ear out the other he doesn't
do anything about it if you really want
to get a blessing from the word of God
don't just hear it don't just study it
don't just mark it do it James 1:25 says
that the man is blessed not in his
hearing but in his doing and so often
you and I say oh I heard such a great
message oh that sermon by our pastor was
so wonderful fine what did you do with
it did you practice it well no then you
didn't get the blessing oh but I enjoyed
it no but you didn't get the blessing
the word of God is a mirror for
examination we must stoop down humbly
look into the mirror we should gaze a
long time we should continue to look we
should allow the word of God to expose
us as we really are the word of God is a
mirror for examination but don't stop
there if all you do is keep examining
yourself you're going to be very very
discouraged it's what I call a spirit
ual autopsy and you don't want too many
of those you may bleed to death the word
of God is a mirror not only for
examination but the word of God is a
mirror for
restoration and here we turn back to the
Book of Exodus and in the book of Exodus
chap 38 and verse 8 we read an
interesting thing Moses one day took up
an offering now Moses was accustomed to
doing that he gathered together all the
materials for the Tabernacle but this
was a very special offering there were a
group of women who served at the door of
the Tabernacle of the congregation we
aren't told exactly what their uh
particular function was but they served
at the door of the Tabernacle and they
had bronze mirrors that they had brought
out of Egypt well Moses came one day and
he said
ladies I need all of your mirrors that's
quite a sacrifice now they couldn't run
down to a local 10- cent store and buy a
new one I need all of your mirrors and
they gave him the
mirrors and exodus 38:8 says this and he
Moses made the labor of bronze and the
foot of it of bronze of the looking
glasses of the women serving who served
at the door of the Tabernacle of the
congregation now the labor as you
remember was that big brass pot so to
speak a big
Basin filled with water it stood between
the altar of sacrifice and the uh holy
place now you remember there was no
floor in the Tabernacle as the priests
were working in the Tabernacle two
things happened their feet got dirty
from the dirt and their hands got soiled
from the
sacrifices and they dared not ever ever
go into the holy place
with dirty feet or dirty hands as we
serve God we have to be clean now what
did they do they went to the labor and
they were able to wash their feet in the
foot part of the labor and they were
able to wash their hands in the Basin
part of the labor it's a picture of the
cleansing of the water of the
word now you are clean said Jesus
Through the word that I've spoken unto
you John 15:3 Ephesians 5 526 talks
about the washing of water through the
word you see my friend when I read my
Bible when you read your Bible we see
how dirty we are but don't stop there
confess that sin to the Lord immediately
claim his forgiveness and allow the word
of God to cleanse your mind and cleanse
your heart just as the blood of Jesus
Christ cleanses the record in heaven the
blood of Jesus Christ go son cleanses us
from all sin when if we confess our sins
then he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness I'm glad that the word
of God is a mirror for restoration it
doesn't just show me how dirty I am it
helps to cleanse me there's something
about the reading of the word of God
meditating on the word of God that just
cleanses the mind and cleanses the heart
but don't stop there we have a third
reference 2 Corinthians 3: 18 we
discover something else about the mirror
of God's word it is not only a mirror
for examination and a mirror for
restoration but your Bible is a mirror for
for
transformation in other words the same
Bible that shows me how dirty I am and
helps to cleanse me can keep me from
getting dirty again listen to 2
Corinthians 3:18 to me one of the
greatest statements Paul ever wrote but
we all with unveiled face beholding as
in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being
being
transformed it's the word transfigured
really are being transformed into the
same image from glory to glory even is
by the spirit of the Lord did you know
that as you read the word of God it
transforms you
now other books you can read they'll
transform you from sin to Sin from shame
to shame from dirt to filth but the word
of God as you meditate on it it
transforms your mind and transforms your
heart and and brings out of you the very
glory of God perhaps you've heard me say
this before but permit me to repeat it 2
Corinthians 3:18 is saying that when the
child of God
looks into the mirror of the word of God
he sees the Son of God and he is
transformed by the spirit of God into
the glory of God into the same image
what image the image of Jesus Christ now
don't ask me to explain this miracle
it's a process that only God can
perform how do you become like the Lord
Jesus Through the word as you read the
word of God the spirit of God takes that
word and your mind becomes like the mind
of Christ and your heart becomes like
the heart of Christ with compassion and
concern and you find yourself being transformed
transformed
gradually sometimes almost
imperceptibly in 2 Corinthians chapter 3
the background is Moses when he went up
on the mountain he came down his face
was shining Moses didn't know his face
was shining but it was now you may not
be able to tell that your face is
shining you may not be able to detect
the fact that you are becoming more and
more like Jesus but other people will
notice it the word of God is a mirror for
for
transformation Moses put a veil on his
face so that the people couldn't see the
glory fading away after all who wants to
follow a leader whose glory is fading
but the glory we have doesn't fade away
the path of the just is as The Shining
Light that shineth more and more under
that perfect day my friend are you
spending enough time in your Bible are
you digging into the word of God for
Examination for
restoration for transformation let God's
mirror change your
life we're glad you joined us today if
you miss part of the program or you'd
like to listen again just come to backtothebible.org
backtothebible.org
so be sure to come back again for more
wisdom from God's word back to the Bible
leading you forward in your relationship
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