Trials and Temptations

The sermon begins by presenting its core purpose: helping believers and even non-Christians clearly distinguish between trials and temptations. Many believers confuse these two concepts because the Greek word peirasmos is used for both difficult situations. This misunderstanding leads believers to blame, doubt God's love, and question His faithfulness when encountering hardship, loss, and suffering. However, when properly understood, believers will know what comes from God, what comes from the devil, and will have the appropriate attitude, response, and prayers.

Trials are external circumstances that God uses to discipline His people, aiming to help their faith grow stronger and more mature, producing perseverance. Through James 1:3-4, God uses trials to refine character, produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit, transform our lives, and help His people become increasingly like Christ. Temptation, by contrast, comes from the devil, the world, and the flesh with the purpose of enticing people to sin against God to destroy faith and relationship with Him. James 1:14 makes clear that each person is tempted by their own desires that drag them away and seduce them. If a thought, intention, action, attitude, or circumstance contradicts Scripture and the Ten Commandments, that is temptation. Examples include lustful desires, gambling, or coveting others' possessions.

Although everyone living in this world will experience trials (hardship and loss) and everyone, whether they believe in God or not, will face temptation, the difference lies in our attitude and response. If we recognize something as a trial, we thank God and ask the Holy Spirit for strength to stand firm, without blaming God, blaming others, or blaming circumstances. We also search Scripture for similar situations and see how biblical characters responded to stand firm and trust God more. If we recognize something as temptation, we ask God for more willpower and faith, ask God to use His Word to help us overcome, and ask God to use our Christian friends and mature believers to help us. We also search Scripture for similar situations and see how biblical characters' responses led to falling and sinning.

The sermon uses many biblical stories to clarify this. The first trial with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden was not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God used it to know whether they would obey His command. The temptation came from the serpent with its deceptive words, seducing them to sin. Cain was tempted by anger and jealousy when Abel was accepted but he was not. Noah endured trial of faith for over one hundred years while building the ark amid the mockery of people, but later fell into sin through drunkenness. Abraham faced a great trial when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac. During the wilderness wandering, the Israelites continually faced trials and were continually tempted by their desires, bad companions' words, and false teachings. At least 13 times the people blamed and accused Moses, Aaron, and even God at different locations in the wilderness.

The sermon emphasizes that understanding and distinguishing trials from temptations is not merely a matter of knowledge or book learning, but highly important and practical. James 1:13-15 clearly teaches that God cannot be tempted by evil, and He does not tempt anyone. Each person is tempted by their own desire. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. This shows that no situation can become a temptation to sin unless we allow our desires to lead us. Each trial has the potential to become a temptation depending on our response. If we respond to a trial with obedience, we will grow spiritually. If we respond to a trial with disobedience, it becomes a temptation and we have become its victim.