Introduction
The verses before us
for consideration are an important segment of James’s
opening message on the tests and trials of life.
They also take up an
important theological question, namely the origin of
sin with the human race.
James commences by making
an emphatic statement, that no person is ever to blame
God when they are tempted to do wrong.
James
1:13 let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted
of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither
tempteth he any man: (KJV)
God uses testing
of circumstances to lead His people forward in faith,
to steadfastness, and on to maturity. God never tempts
a person to go the way of self-gratification or to do
wrong.
Do not blame
God for the temptation, for He is a Holy God who
cannot be tempted and it is not in His character to
tempt anyone.
1. Reality to Foresee "Temptation"
Our text confirms
what we already know to be true. Many temptations begin
in us. There is something already there. Temptation
calls to us from within us. We hear that call almost
every day, and we’ve all had the experience of
responding to that call. We’ve all failed to even
live up to our own standards, as well as God’s
standards.
Morality
is almost a forgotten word in our generation. Few
people speak of temptation. This is a day when most
people believe that there are no absolutes; consequently
there are no restraints.
Presidents, Politicians,
Popular sporting personalities, and Preachers have fallen
into the murky waters of temptation.
In the moral climate,
which prevails today, James’s words regarding temptation
are words of warning to all, who would seek to live
a godly life in a dark world.
James
1:16 do not err, my beloved brethren. (KJV)
When he is tempted, 1:13 Temptation
is not a matter of "If"
but "When" we are tempted. None
are exempt form temptation.
Temptation
is universal. If you should hear of someone who
is never tempted by anything, there is one conclusion
that you can draw about that person. He or she is dead.
Dead people are not tempted.
If you’re not being
tempted right now, expect it soon because it’s
coming. Temptation is not something that you ever get
past.
It has come around before
and it will come around again. It is inevitable that
it will continue to come, till all the ransomed Church
of God is saved to sin no more.
The Believer who thinks
otherwise has fallen into Satan’s most subtle trap.
Christians are subject
to a sharper and a more subtle temptation than those
who do not know the Lord. Temptation is inevitable.
Each temptation leaves
us better or worse; neutrality is impossible. We need
to expect temptation. We should never be surprised.
As
Matthew Henry’s said, "The
best of Saints may be tempted to the worst of sins"
To face up to this fact is to face reality,
flee temptation and don't leave a forwarding address.
1. Reality to Foresee "Temptation"
2.
Reasoning to Follow
"Let
no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God"
God is not the "Source,
or the Origin", of temptation which comes our way.
When tempted, no one should say, "God is
tempting me".
For God cannot be tempted
by evil, neither can He tempt us towards evil. Yet many
people blame God for their own sin.
They say, "
God created everything therefore He is responsible for
the very impulse of temptation. This reasoning concludes,
"that God is the author of sin" I can’t
help my sin, for God just made me this way.
We look for anything
and everything on which to blame our troubles. If it
is not adverse circumstances, it’s "The Devil
Made Me Do It". If it is not the Devil, then it
has to be God! It surely can't be me!
This
was precisely the thinking behind
Adam’s pathetic attempt to shift the responsibility
for his sin. Adam said to God, "I am not guilty"
Gen 3:12 "The woman whom
thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree,
and I did eat". (KJV)
"Lord
the woman is to blame"! But Eve said "Lord
I am not guilty for the Devil made me do it". Gen
3: The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. (KJV)
What
a display of the depravity of the human heart!
In a moment of crisis, when things go seriously
wrong, when a fatal mistake has been made, he
seeks to avoid personal blame, and implies that the
Devil or God is responsible’
Satan does
have a hand in our temptation. But often he gets too
much credit. You see there must be something there for
Satan’s temptations to be effective.
The one restriction that God placed on
our first parents was a reasonable test of their faith
and obedience. It was not a temptation for them to do
wrong. The power of choice lay with them.
Temptation, is inevitable
it is also personal, it one thing to be tempted, it
is another thing to fall. Adam and Eve fell because
of personal desire.
Gen
3:6-7 when the woman saw that the tree was good for
food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree
to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit
thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband
with her; and he did eat.
7
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew
that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together,
and made themselves aprons. (KJV)
They fell into sinful
depravity because of personal desire.
As
Thomas Jefferson said, "Do not bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there
is no hook beneath it". Satan played his
part in this rebellion, a rebellion that was not God’s
responsibility.
God cannot be tempted
by evil. What a dazzling diamond we have in verse 13.
- God’s
Person can never be defiled.
Man is unclean but
God is perfect in His Righteousness and Holiness.
There is absolutely nothing in His divine nature
that responds to evil. He is of purer eyes than
to behold iniquity. He is a Thrice Holy God.
Holy Holy Holy!
All
heaven’s triumphant choirs shall sing.
When
ransomed nations fall at the footstool of their
King
Holy Holy Holy" is the Lord of all.
If God
is Holy he cannot be tempted.
- God’s
Purposes can never be defeated
Dan
4:35 all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed
as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the
army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of
the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him,
what doest thou?
The eternal
purposes of God can never be deflected, because
He cannot be tempted by evil.
God sometimes moves in
the dark, but He is never in the dark as to where He
is moving. Every child of His can trust Him wholly and
will find Him wholly true.
c.
God’s Perception can never be dulled
Because
He cannot be tempted! How often have we made
wrong decisions, or displayed a wrong attitude? How
many opportunities, have we missed because
our perception was dulled by sin, because we were out
of touch with God? But our blessed
Lord can never be touched or tainted by sin.
His perception is always clear and perfect.
This
is the One who is familiar with all our ways,
aware of our needs, and is touched with the feelings
of our infirmities.
He has the answer to
our many problems because His perception can never be
dulled.
Ps
147:4-5 He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth
them all by their names.
Great
is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is
infinite. (KJV)
d.
God’s Power can never be diminished
Sin
robs men of their power. Lot chose to live in Sodom and soon he was powerless,
even over his own family.
Samson broke his solemn vow and soon his
power was gone, and he knew it not when the Philistines
came upon him.
Sin can rob the Christian
of their power but it can never touch God’s Power.
God is never weakened;
His power is never less than omnipotent. The mighty
power of God, which raised Christ from the dead, is
the same power that works in all those who trust Him.
e.
God’s Promises can never be devalued.
How often
have we made promises to man and to God and failed to
keep them, because of compromise or a lack of faith.
God never fails to keep
His promises. Thank God, even when we forget His promises,
He still remembers.
Illustration. Old man, who was dying,
couldn’t remember God’s promises, but was
reminded that God never forgets.
The
Promise of His Presence to enjoy—
His Presence Is Personal
"Lo I am with you always"
not an angel but the Lord Himself will be with His people.
The
Promise of His Power to encourage--
He Will Strengthen Us –
He will give us the power
to see every duty and every day to its conclusion. There
will be grace and strength for every need –
2 Cor. 12:9 and
he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for
my strength is made perfect in weakness.
He Will Support Us –
He will give us what
we need, when we need it, in the exact proportions that
we require it – Phil. 4:19. Psalm 23:1-6 –
He Will Sustain Us –
God will keep us and
get us safely through the journey until we all reach
Heaven; God did not save us to abandon us along the
way –
Our journey may be long, or it may be
short. Whatever the length of it, or whatever we may
face, I am thankful that we can count on God and His
promises during our journey.
At the dedication
of the Temple in Jerusalem, Solomon’s opening words
were
1
Ki 8:56 Blessed be the LORD, that hath given
rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he
promised: there hath not failed one word of all
his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses
his servant.
I
praise the Lord for His promises! Don’t
you? However, let’s be honest, we do not always
live like we believe these things, do we? For so often
we can yield to temptation and bring dishonour to God.
Illustration.
Let us seek to remember, that feather-by-feather the
goose is plucked, and that for every great temptation,
there will be many small ones.
Wolves and bears are
more dangerous than flies, but mostly flies bother us.
James sets
forth the nature of God, "God
cannot be tempted with evil" he also set
forth the character of God "neither
tempteth he any man" v 13
Reality
to Foresee
Reasoning
to Follow
Responsibility
to Face.
James
1:14,15 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away
of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived,
it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished,
bringeth forth death.
Having made
a powerful defence of the character of God, James now
describes the workings of temptation, the source and
course and the force.
The Source of Temptation--
is Desire.
James
1:14 but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away
of his own lust, and enticed. (KJV) But each one is
tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and
enticed. (NKJ)
Temptation
begins with desire. This is where the responsibility
lies. James tells us that it is our own evil desire,
and our desires are extremely powerful. The desire to
sin is already within us. If it were not in us, sin
would not be attractive to us.
Many
desires are legitimate, but when they attach
themselves to an evil object they draw us away, and
then drag us away from a secure place and leave us on
the open place of sin.
The more one seeks to satisfy a selfish
inward desire, the more the craving grows. When a selfish
desire enters the mind and takes root, that root should
be immediately removed for soon it will produce fruit.
Jer. 17:9 the heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked: who can know it? (KJV) James
aligns himself with the Biblical teaching of the total
depravity of man. Where there is no evil desire, there
is no temptation.
How
right the Puritan Preacher Thomas Browne was when he
said " Our corrupted hearts are the factories of
the Devil"
The Source of Temptation--
is Desire. James understood that Satan is busy
at tempting believers, but he also understood that the
root of the problem is our own evil sinfulness.
Ultimately each person
is faced with the responsibility of his or her own temptations.
A man's heart is right when he wills what God wills.
The Course of Temptation
V 14, 15 James introduces to us the three-generation
family of, Lust, Sin and Death, and they continue to
be passed down to each generation of man.
Soon desire
leads to deception.
James tells us that because of desire we
are dragged away and enticed. The word enticed
is fishing term that means, "to bait a hook"
The hunter and the fisherman both use bait to
catch their prey.
If you bait your hook
with a nice juicy worm, you have two purposes in mind.
The first is to lure the fish. The second is to hide
the hook.
The fish does
not see the hook, and neither do we. But the hook
is there. The consequences of sin are very real, but
we are blinded to them by the strength of our desire.
If we could see them clearly, we might make another
choice.
Lot would not have moved to Sodom if he
had not looked at the bait of the "well watered
plains of Jordan.
David would never have committed adultery
if he had not looked with desire on his neighbour’s
wife, or if he had seen the consequences of his sin.
The death of a baby,
Bath Sheba’s son, the murder of Uriah, and the
Violation of a daughter "Tamas"
It’s the bait,
which keeps us from seeing the consequences of sin.
Jesus warned His disciples
Mat 26:41 Watch and pray, that
ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is
willing, but the flesh is weak.
Inwardly man
has the desire and the potential to sin; outwardly
he is surrounded by enticements, allurements, and temptations.
As long as
he resists he is safe. If he yields, his desire
leads to deception, and deception leads to disobedience.
"When
lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin"
How often the
grass looks greener on the other side. Desire and deception
are an unholy marriage.
Illustration.
- Erwin Lutzer-- tells the story of a man
who walked into a mental institution one day, and was
taken on a tour. The tour led him to one cell where
a man was beating his head against the padded walls.
He kept saying, "Linda, how could you do
it? Linda, how could you do it?"
The guide explained
that the man was in love with Linda, and when Linda
jilted him, he drifted off into the ozone. He just couldn't
handle it.
They went to the next
cell, and there was a man saying, "Linda, Linda,
how could this happen? Linda, Linda." The visitor
said, "Who's he?"
The guide said,
"He's the man who married Linda."
That's the myth of the greener grass.
James goes on to make
it abundantly clear that no one can escape the personal
guilt that is involved in his or her acts of sin.
Reality
to Foresee
Reasoning
to Follow
Responsibility
to Face.
Recklessness
to Forsake.
"When
lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin,
when it is finished, bringeth forth death". V 15
The
Force of Temptation
Look ahead
to where sin ends. Sin and lust gives birth to death.
Adam and Eve,
the moment the desire in their heart conceived and gave
birth to sin, experienced instant spiritual death, and
ultimately physical death.
Gen
3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,
till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast
thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou
return.
Rom
5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world,
and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men,
for that all have sinned: (KJV)
The Greek word
for "death" (Thanatos)
means separation. In physical death the spirit is separated
from the body.
In eternal death the
spirit of man, his soul, is separated from God forever.
This is the terrible conclusion, for the unconverted.
"The wages of sin is death"
G.H. Charnley tells
the story of a young skylark. One day it discovered,
a man who would give it worms for a feather. A bargain
was made— one feather for two worms.
Down it flew,
plucked two feathers from its wings and had a feast
of worms. Day after day this went on. Autumn came and
it was time to fly south. But the young skylark couldn’t
do it.
It had exchanged the
power of its wings for worms. It didn’t see the
consequences of its desire. He was deceived by his desire
and made the wrong choice.
Don’t
be deceived by your desires. "For
sin when it is finished bringeth forth death".
How does
"sin when it is finished bringeth forth death" effect believers who are no longer under condemnation
because they are in Christ?
The Bible teaches that the Lord will
punish His children where there is wilful sinning. The
Apostle John reminds us "That
there is a sin unto death 1John 5:16
Both
the Old and New Testaments contain example of this chastisement
from the hand of God.
It happened
to the sons of Aaron Lev 10:1
And Nadab and
Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer,
and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered
strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them
not.
And
there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them,
and they died before the LORD.
In
Acts 5, this judgment fell on Ananias and
Sapphira who sold some property and lied about the price.
The charge against Ananias was "Thou
hast not lied unto men but unto God"
Acts
5:5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave
up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard
these things. And the young men arose, wound him up,
and carried him out, and buried him.
The
Lord dealt with
those in the Church of Corinth who persisted in eating
and drinking unworthily at the Lord’s Table.
1
Cor 11:29 for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily,
eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning
the Lord's body.
For
this cause many are weak and sickly among you,
and many sleep.
How solemn theses
thoughts are and how they should challenge every believer
to honest and Holy living.
James says,
"Do not err, my beloved brethren"
The Apostle John writes
My little children,
these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And
if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous:
1 John 2:1
His Precious
Blood and full atonement
Makes us right
with God
Sin and Satan
are overcome
By it’s
almighty power.
When we are faced
with temptation let us remember God’s wonderful
promise.
There hath no
temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but
God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be
tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation
also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear
it. 1 Cor 10:13
God says that he will always make
a way of escape. So, don’t be surprised by temptation.
You can win over temptation! God has given you the power
to forsake this Recklessness.
Yield
not to Temptation.
Ask the Saviour
to help you
Comfort, strengthen,
and keep you
He is willing
to help you
He will carry
you through
|
