The Devil Made Me Do It | Pastor Shane Idleman

Pastor Shane Idleman: I'm just going to go sit at home and watch TV. I'm not going back out into that party lifestyle of the world. Well, sitting at home with this can eventually lead back to that. So, what I would suggest is get plugged into a Wednesday night study in a Sunday church and a Bible study, a men's group, women's group, and you get plugged in. You're adding more things as you're taking things out. If you just go and remove things but don't add things, the enemy can come back in because idle hands are the enemy's workshop. Idle hands are the enemy's tools. Idle hands all those sayings are true because when we sit idle, we're bored. And when we're bored, that's when temptation often occurs.
Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us here at Westside Christian Fellowship, located in Leona Valley, California, 1 hour north of Los Angeles. Today on Regaining Lost Ground, we hear part one of a convicting message by Pastor Shane titled The Devil Made Me Do It. Ephesians 4:2 through 3 tells us be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Please join us for this sobering message of hope as Pastor Shane urges us to fall on our face before the Lord, renouncing all pride, all excuses, and a call out to the only name that can save, whom that is exclusively found in Jesus Christ. You can hear the whole message at Pastor Shane's YouTube and Rumble channels. Make sure to subscribe today. For more information, visit us online at westsidechristianfellowship.org. We also encourage you to hear more truth from Pastor Shane with the Idle Men Unplugged weekly podcast. And now from Westside Christian Fellowship in Leona Valley, California, here's Pastor Shane Idle Man.
Pastor Shane Idleman: If you have your Bibles, you can turn to James chapter 4. James chapter 4. The title of the message is The Devil Made Me Do It. The Devil Made Me Do It. And I'll tell you up front that's not true. The devil doesn't make you do anything. He simply entices. He just like a fish. You see the fishing lure in the water. That how you catch a fish. It looks enticing. But I need to read the context from before I get into James chapter 4 verse 7. I'm going to begin at verse 1. He We talked about James saying adulterers and adulteresses. Do you know that friendship with this world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain that the Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealousy yearns jealously for God? But he gives more grace. Therefore, he says God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And we talked about the possibility and the reality of cheating on God. We can cheat on God spiritually when we give our heart to something else, worldly influences. And that was last week's message. But it's interesting. He says God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. And one aspect of pride is loving the world, of having a deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievement or lifestyle. That's also pride. Look at what I've done. Look at what I've accomplished. So, God resists the proud. So, those of you who are proud if you if you're fighting against God, I'm sure not the Wednesday night audience, right? But this will apply Sunday morning, I'm sure. A lot of pride prideful people there. But we'll just listen then. Just listen what I'll I'll tell them at some point. But pride is taking pride in what we've accomplished or what we 've done and and and this this sense of hottiness and superiority really and looking down on others. And God actually resists that. And people wonder I've seen a lot of prideful people and they wonder why isn't God answering my prayers? Why isn't I feel like I'm fighting God? You are fighting God. God is resisting you. He's not allowing certain blessings. He's not allowing things to happen in your place with peace and tranquility because you're resisting God. But he gives grace to the humble. So, when we humble ourselves and don't think like this and don't pursue the things of the world, the grace of God floods in. If you you've known the difference when you're prideful and you fight against God and when you're humble, it just seems that God is filling your life with joy and peace. And that's what he's talking about here. He's God will resist the proud. Then James 1:14 through 15 I'm going to set up the the Now we're going to get into James 4:7 about the devil made me do it. But we read weeks ago that each one of us is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires. He is dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin when it is fully grown gives birth to death. So, that's that that's what James talked about in the first chapter. Now he jumps in James chapter 4 verse 7. Therefore, submit to God. So, God's resisting the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, submit to God. Remember we always want to know when it says therefore to find out what it is therefore. And he's talking about being being arrogant, resisting God. Submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. And I think that's one of the things we forget about being Christians is we somehow think temptation is easy. It's easy to say no. It's easy to resist. It's It's It's no problem at all. But we actually have to resist, meaning there's a fight, meaning there's a struggle, meaning there's a battle. And And we often go into that battle unarmed, unprepared, and untrained. And we fall on our face because we're not resisting. So, when the resistance gets a little bit tough, we give up. When actually God says resist the devil. As you were submitting to God, we're resisting the devil and he will flee from you. That's one thing about temptation. Here's how temptation works. It's usually It's It's pretty difficult and then and and then temptation reaches a reaches a point that is very difficult. And that is the defining moment in many of our lives. When you're fasting and it I'm pretty hungry and I'm pretty And then 3 hours later you're starving and you you that temptation or the lust of the flesh, the the lust that that that temptation will start out and and it reaches a a crescendo. That's what I'm looking for. You know, this high point and it's it's at that point that we need to make the decision to flee and to resist. And that's that's the point. Once you get through that and the that the temptation starts to to to minimize itself, the devil will flee away. It not like the devil is constantly tempting all you know, all eight cylinders on this temptation going going going the rest of your life. There's a point of victory. There's a point of battle. There's a point of another battle. There's a point of victory. So, as you're resisting the devil, at some point he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. God, James is pretty hard, isn't he? Or is he just being honest? And he's writing in a time when the church was was fairly old at this time. And people can can fall back into into their way. So, he's saying cleanse your hands, what you're doing, you sinners, purify your hearts, you double-minded. So, they were double-minded, loving the world, loving the things of the world, and actually engaging in sin. They were not resisting the devil. They were falling into temptation. So, James is giving a strong rebuke. Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up. Now personally I think this is a Why is he saying lament and mourn and weep? Don't be laughing. Let your laughter be turned to joy. A lot of times when people are caught in sin, the party lifestyle, there's a lot of laughter. There's a lot of joy and they they just mocking God. He says let that laughter the the enjoyment of your sin be turned into sorrow. And And And that's is really this is how you get through temptation. Submit to God, resist the devil. He begins to flee. Then we draw near to God and he will draw near to us. It's this this image we have. If I started walking towards you, you would actually You wouldn't have to walk necessarily but but we're getting closer, aren't we? We're drawing God's drawing near. So, as I'm walking to anybody in the room, if I started walking to you, I would be drawing near to you. And as a result, you're drawing near to me. And that's what God wants. He wants that relationship to draw near to him and he will draw near to us. Lament and mourn and weep. It means Lord, I'm sorry that I've been enjoying this and and and just laughing about the sin but I'm humbling myself. I'm mourning. I 'm weeping in some cases and I'm humbling my sight. I'm humbling myself in your sight and God will lift you up. So, it's really this passage is is anybody wanting to overcome a besetting sin, somebody trapped in sin? James is giving the antidote. This is it. We submit to God. We have to resist the devil because often when we're caught in a besetting sin, we're not resisting the devil. What are we doing? Oh, here it comes again. I got to stop by the liquor store. I got to pick up this or I got to look on the computer again. I And it's this constant falling into sin because we're not resisting the devil. And what I would do We have talked to my mom before too cuz she counsels a lot of people. And the key is a lot of times is when you feel that temptation coming, you change the environment or you do something different. You don't keep feeding on that and building it and building it building you walk away from. For example, if you're having a struggle on the computer, you just get up, you walk away, you you you go do something else. If you're angry, upset, you can feel it just You ready to You're that volcano at home, then go take a drive. Grab Blessing CD on the way out and just put that in. I guarantee after those five songs, you're not going to be very angry when you come home. And you change that environment. I know I I've talked God's put people who are addicted on my heart with with I just met with a friend of mine today. Had lunch and he's he's probably drinking three, four times a week a large amount of alcohol. And it starts you know, and and he can feel it coming and fill it and coming and and it Does it keep entertaining those thoughts and thinking about it? Where can he pick it up? And And he's planning out just take tomorrow off. And so he starts thinking but he nips that in the bud right away. Now he's not even a believer. So, I believe you're in bondage. That's hard to break. Willpower is not enough. He's got to get his heart right before the Lord. But that's what temptation does. That's why James I read earlier what this little desire starts to build and starts to build and starts to build. And when we act upon those, that's how temptation gains a stronghold by not resisting that that sin comes in and gains a stronghold. Submit to the work of the Spirit, resist the pull of the world, the devil, and the flesh. So, James is basically saying talking about obedience, isn't he? And that's a word we don't like to hear in the church. But I need to remind everyone in this room that obedience saved Noah. Wait a minute. Shane Faith did, yeah? But he had to build an ark. He had to obey God. And we have this sometimes this this idea of they call it hyper grace where it's just you just take advantage of God's grace. It's no big deal and you can keep on sinning and don't talk about obedience. Don't talk about these hard things. It's just all grace. But grace is also followed by me living up to what God not perfectly but following God's commandments and wanting to obey God, wanting to honor his word. And from that that's how you begin to push away the devil. Now it is a challenge. Let me read one story I found many years ago and I I actually came up this week. I want to share it with you tonight. It's about a little boy named Alexander. He was trying to save all of his pennies so he could buy a baseball bat. But he had a hard struggle. One night when he was saying his prayers, his mother heard him say fervently, Oh Lord, please help me save my money for a baseball bat. And God, don't let the ice cream man come down my street anymore. Isn't that true? Lord, help me save up money for my baseball bat but don't let that ice cream truck come down. And he would spend his money on that. And that's It's That's how what temptation looks like. Here's the interesting thing about temptation. It takes from us but at the same time it looks so appealing. If it didn't look good, we wouldn't take the bait. So, we The devil Well, let me recommentator Klein Snotgrass, interesting name. He said mention of the schemes of the devil, which is the trickery of the devil, the deceit of the devil, reminds us of trickery by which evil and temptation present themselves in our lives. Evil rarely looks evil until it accomplishes its goal. It gains interest by appearing attractive, desirable, and perfectly legitimate. It's a baited and camouflage trap. Temptation always looks like that. A young couple like let's just let's just live together. Who I mean, I know it's not right but we're saving on our taxes, you know, and we can get to know each other first. And then they don't see the years of pain and regret that will bring later. Or a person might indulge in something and say yeah, but you know, it just looks It's not that big a deal. It's my off day or it's this or I mean, I've heard every excuse in the book. And I'm like, no, that's just an excuse but it presents itself uh that most affairs start by the the person whether wherever it's at and there's a there's a relationship built and and it presents It's like, well, this isn't a big deal. This doesn't You know, it looks it looks fine. This isn't going to result in anything. Um a book I've mentioned before by Steve Farrar, he interviewed 200 something top people, Christian leaders who failed in Christian ministry due to usually sexual sin. But in in 80% of the cases they all said it would never happen to me. This will This will never That will never happen to me. Why did it happen to them many times because they didn't They It was a It was a baited and camouflage trap. The enemy's not going to show the hook on the bait. He's going to show the bait. Now here's how we get cuz some people go, oh, then I'm always going to be tricked. I'm No. It's very easy actually. Only by comparing your thoughts and what your actions are going to be to God's word can we generate the motivation to resist. So, once I say, okay, here's what God's word says about this. Here's where this is going to lead me, then I I must make a different decision, whether it comes to money. Really the enemy's going to come after the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, covetousness, what the eye goes after, and the pride of life. Those are the three areas that he concentrates his attack. When the woman Eve saw that the the the tree was good for food, desirable to make one wise, and appeared attractive as well. He All three of those he used. And it temptation always looks good. But I I also believe that a believer has some kind of Holy Spirit umpire in him blowing the whistle. Don't go there yet. No. No. Don't go there. We keep Be quiet. Be quiet. Be quiet. And we we hear the conviction of the Holy Spirit leading us and guiding us in the right direction. Now be encouraged though. Temptation is also an opportunity to do what is right by turning from it. Always temptation is always an opportunity to do what is right by turning from it. Many times with temptation you got to know the plan before the temptation comes. And I've shared this before often. My wife knows because she can check my email whenever but if I go to empty spam and it says, hi, my name is and I'm 24, delete. Blue hair, blonde, delete. It's all you You just see Oh I don't need this I don't care who you are. I don't need to see pictures that you sent me. Who is this person? Delete delete delete It just has to be that quick. But if you say, well, maybe this is a person from church. That name looks kind of familiar. Well, it's in spam though. I mean, I mean, we we start to play these games. So, temptation you got to know what's your trigger. For one person it's this. For another person it's that. And what's what's the trigger? For example, we went My brother came in from Idaho. I helped him all day yesterday for It was a long day of moving, picking up 40 yards worth of trash. And they invited us to pizza and they ordered pitchers of beer and you know, I just the decision is no. It's not even an option. I I can't do that. So, the See the decisions made before it You know, before it even starts but if you get there and you say, well, I don't know, one pitcher won't hurt, right? Yeah, right. I mean, you start You see your mind. That's what it'll play with you. It'll start to And you And And you you you have to decide what God's word says before it happens. That's part of overcoming temptation. If you wait till you're in the thick of battle, like what am I going to do now? I don't know. You know, and that that's where really cuz when he gets you into it, he starts to plant thoughts like you deserve this or you've been working hard all week or they don't treat you right or when was the last time you did this or you need to tell And he'll start building on that temptation with those thoughts, those fiery darts of the enemy. So, that's how the enemy works. And people say, man, Shane, the devil made me do this. No. They didn't He didn't make you do anything. You did. The devil made me got drunk. No, you made me Did I say that wrong? The devil I said it right. Okay. That's how it's like. But But no that But they But then they had to Las Vegas for the weekend or the devil made me spend all this money. No, you didn't budget and you didn't do anything. Oh, the devil is coming against my marriage. No, you are the meanest son of a gun I have ever met and your back bite and you down talk your wife. That's the problem. The devil didn't make you do it. And especially in charismatic circles, it's real big. The devil There's a spirit for everything. The devil this and the spirit of this, the spirit of lying, the spirit of lust, the spirit of this, the spirit of of of of you know, all kinds of things because if we can blame the devil, then I don't have to take responsibility. Well, the devil made me do it. He never He can't make you do it. All he can do is just plant thoughts basically in your mind or bring people, you know, situations he can't make us do anything. Now to me that's pretty pretty safe. You know, you don't have to worry about that he's going to make you like a puppet going actually do something. And I've I've used to read I've I've read stories of guys that are in jail for the rest of their life and they heard all these voices to go kill somebody. And And actually the voices and things started small when they were little. And would build a Bundy, that guy Bundy, I think he was executed. He got started on just hardcore pornography like catalogs from Sears and JC Pennys and the And then it turned into this and then turned into this and turned And it got worse and worse and worse. So, that's what the enemy does. He'll keep He'll keep bringing those things cuz cuz the ultimate goal is for the enemy is to kill, steal, and to destroy. That That's what he He's not concerned with a little this little slip up or a little that. He wants to kill and steal and to destroy and submit and resist. Oh, I can I want to keep reading. Temptation is also an opportunity to do what is right by turning from it. See temptation isn't wrong. People sometimes be Shane, where are these thoughts coming from? I've never had that thought before. Why Right. There's a season of testing sometimes that the enemy will bring in thoughts but being tempted is not sin because Jesus was tempted. Jesus was tempted in all points like we are but was without sin. So, the temptation, the thought to do something isn't the sin. It's when you go out and do it. That's when it crosses the line. 1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you. This is going to burst the bubble to some people cuz they think they've they've Nobody on planet Earth has ever went through what I'm going through. Nobody's had to resist what I'm resisting. Well, Paul said no temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not you will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. But with the temptation he makes a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. So, there's a there's a whole bunch of exit doors here. There's exit doors everywhere. But you have to bear it. You have to There's a There's a There's a price that has to be paid. There's a resistance that has to be won. The door of temptation swings both ways. You can enter or exit. Submit and resist, what I talked about earlier. Like in dieting, when bad food is removed, a healthy choice has to be added. Same thing in in spiritual areas. When something is removed from your life, when you start to step back and pursue God and you remove things from your life, you have to add it with other things. For example, I've known people who have who have tried to get back on track with their life and they go, you know, I'm just going to go sit at home and watch TV. I'm not going back out into that you know, party lifestyle of the world. Well, sitting at home with this can eventually lead back to that because they they're you're feeding your mind. You're not adding things. So, what I would suggest is get plugged into a Wednesday night study in a Sunday church and a Bible study, a men's group, women's group, and you get plugged in. You're adding more things as you're taking things out. If you just go and and remove things but don't add things, the enemy can come back in because idle hands are the enemy's workshop. Idle hands are the enemy's tools. Idle hands all those sayings are true because when we sit idle, we're bored. And when we're bored, that's when temptation often occurs. The flesh is in rebellion against God. Okay, your flesh is in rebellion against God. So, feelings cannot be trusted. Okay? You don't trust your feelings. Hello, Regaining Lost Ground listeners. This is Pastor Shane Idle Man. Hey, I want to let you know that my new booklet titled A Calculated Assault Against Cancer is now available. You can download it for free right now at shaneidleman.com. Again, my new booklet A Calculated Assault Against Cancer is now available at shaneidleman.com. And the reason I did this is because there's so much negativity and fear that encompasses that word and especially in the medical industry. There's not a lot of hope and so I want to release this booklet to give people hope and perspective and let them know, hey, with God all things are possible and his sovereignty can be your sanity. So, again, get this to anybody struggling with their health, especially and primarily cancer. The title of the booklet is called A Calculated Assault Against Cancer and it's available right now at shaneidleman.com.
Guest (Male): Westside Christian Fellowship is located 60 miles north of Los Angeles in Leona Valley, California. Thank you again for listening to today's message of Regaining Lost Ground where we are reminded daily times change, truth does not.