Pregnant By the WRONG Man

     We have all seen and heard stories about women that lay down with men that they only intend to use for sex and end up getting pregnant by them.  The same holds true for men.  Some men have gone into a woman's bedroom looking for one thing and nine months later they ended up with something else, a child.  There is only one way to make a baby which I will not elaborate on here but you all are old enough to know what I am talking about.  There are four steps: intercourse, conception, gestation and finally birth.  Between a married man and woman, this is a beautiful process and it glorifies God in that the created obey His command to be fruitful and multiply.

     There is a different take on pregnancy and birth in the book of James that is quite interesting.  James, in discussing temptation says the following in James 1:13-15:

"When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."

     James makes it clear that temptation cannot and does not come from God.  God cannot be tempted nor does God tempt.  Does God allow tests? Absolutely, but even in the case of Job, while God allowed Satan to test Job, He did not do so Himself because Job was innocent in his sight.  God does not pour out His wrath on the innocent, which is was Satan was trying to incite Him to do.  To make it even more plain, how can the One that is Holy and the One that tells us to avoid sin entice us to sin?  It does not compute. 

     James is very forthright as to where temptation comes from.   Temptation, in this case, must be understood in the context of temptation to sin.  The Greek word can also mean a test or trial.  Man is tempted when our own lusts draw us away and then we are enticed.  Let us think of this in very graphic terms.  Our lusts which are a consequence of our fallen nature and still exist even in one that is born again, basically drag us into a dark place where we are then enticed.  Enticed (Gk deleazó) is written in the Middle voice which lets us know that the enticement comes from an outside source.  So Satan uses our own desires and thoughts to push us past desire to sin.  This is the intercourse between Satan and our lust, after which something very strange happens.  We become pregnant with an illicit desire.  Once pregnant, once conception occurs, the next step in a logical progression is birth. 

     James indicates here that lust gives birth to sin once lust is coupled with the enticement of Satan!  This is interesting here because James uses this quite graphic analogy to illustrate something that happens when we do not stop temptation in its tracks.  Sin, once fully formed, leads to death.  Paul says in Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin is death.  When we practice sin, when we live unrepentantly, the just punishment for that is death.  God would be less than Holy to have any other punishment for sin that death.  We saw this same scenario play out in Genesis when Satan tempted Eve.  There is one difference.  Because Adam and Eve were created in perfection, they did not have a fallen nature. Therefore, Satan had to initiate the entire situation from start to finish including implanting the lust, enticing Eve and eventually leading her to sin by disobeying God.

     We need to understand that as a consequence of the fall of humanity, lust naturally resides within man.  We are all born into sin.  That lust is intensified by Satan's enticement.  Lust is not always sexual but it always leads to sin.  We usually think of lust when we think of sex but you can have a lust for money, power, respect or anything that pulls you away from the Living God to pursue your own will.  It is any passion built on strong feelings.  The Greek word can be positive or negative but a positive passion will be born from faith whereas a negative passion will be born from within our own nature.

     How do we prevent this illicit spiritual pregnancy?  Thank God that there is "birth control" in Jesus.  Jesus showed us when He was tempted in the wilderness that whenever Satan seeks to entice us away from what God wills, we need simply to use God's Word to combat Satan's advances.  When Satan went after Jesus' flesh with things that Jesus knew would not endure (bread, pride, kingdoms), Jesus responded with the Words of the Spirit.  When Satan offered bread to abate hunger, Jesus replied that man should not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.  When Jesus was taken up to a high point and tempted to test God and cause the angels to come to his rescue (see Psalm 91), Jesus answered again from the scriptures, "it is written, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test." (Deuteronomy 6:16)   When Jesus was offered the kingdoms made of brick and mortar, that He already OWNED might I add, in exchange for worship of the created being, Satan, Jesus said simply that we are to worship God alone!  Every word that Jesus spoke came from scripture.  Every word that we speak when we are at war with Satan should come from scripture (2 Cor 10:4).  Can you see why the Holy Ghost is so important in our lives?  He is the One that brings all things to our remembrance.  He is the one that gives us the words to say when we are under attack by the enemy (Luke 12:11).

     When evil or lustful thoughts enter into our minds, we are to take them captive.  Any thought that seeks to exalt itself above God, we are to take it captive to obey Christ (2 Cor 10:5).  The second the thought comes in, we are to take it captive because a wrong though will incite is to lust which then gives Satan the doorway that he needs to come in and entice us.  We are to stop the thought in its tracks and do not give it time to set up, impregnate us and eventually lead us to sin.

     Truthfully, if we are not worshipping God, then we are worshipping Satan.  Worship of God through Jesus Christ should lead to obedience, not disobedience.  No we will not live in sinless perfection but we will also not be driven by our lustful desires (Gal 5:16; 5:24) if we walk by the Spirit.  Use the spiritual birth control that the Father has given us in the Son.  Jesus has given us everything we need to be obedient to His word.  He also lived a life of perfect obedience while he walked in the flesh.  We must submit to Him as our Lord in order to truly bear fruit in keeping with repentance and for righteousness.  May God bless you as you walk in submission to His will and as you obey His Word by His Spirit.