“A Living Faith”
James 1:13 -18
Pastor Ben Fleming
January 11, 2008
PHOTO --- I wonder if there are many of you here who remember who this man is??? He had some famous quotes – “The cost of living is going up and the chance of living is going down. “ “Violence is a tool of the ignorant” and his most famous quote is “The devil made me do it”. (BLANK) We laughed at Flip Wilson’s quote when he said it with his wig and skirt on but many say and think the same thing……. It was someone else who made me do it”. I just could not help it. Everybody is doing it, well it was just a mistake and nobody is perfect.”…….. For many believers – temptation is confusion --- some even believe that to be tempted is sin and for many believers….. they do not understand how to have victory over temptation in their life. Turn in your bible to the book of James. We are studying the book of James and we are finding in this letter that James is writing to believers so that they may have and experience a living faith. When your faith is alive there is joy. When your faith is real and alive you are able to identify a temptation in your life and find and take the way of escape that God provides.
Temptation is part of all of our lives – believers and non believers. For the believer – temptation is a test – it is a fire….. that purifies and tests that believer. In my younger years I used to think that no one was tempted like me, until I found that Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”….. Everyone is tempted and the temptations that you deal with are the same ones that I deal with …….– when the temptation comes – God will provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” Galatians 6:1 1Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.” …… We are to be on the guard as a believer so that we may not be tempted – you are to watch yourself – you do not trust yourself – you need accountability. I try not to go into a news stand in an airport unless I am with my wife or another person who knows me. I know there is temptation there. To young Timothy Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 2:22 “Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.” A believer has to do something in response to temptation. You cannot be passive and be victorious over temptation. Paul says we are to flee – we must run from something and run to something.
Stand this morning as we read James chapter one. RHEA WILLIAMS-------- Prayer about temptation
The word that is translated as tempted in verse 13 comes from the same word as trials – peirasmos. A temptation is a trial. You will face temptations of many kinds. No person – including the most spiritual Christian – can escape temptation – everyone of us are going to be put through temptations. Matthew 4:1 tells us that Jesus Christ was tempted by the devil. From the beginning --- the character of sin within us makes us have a propensity or a bent to pass off blame – every parent in here knows that. We as Americans have perfected it with our victim mentality. Something or someone else made me do what I did – I am not responsible – you are to blame. Wives blame their husbands and husbands blame their wives. Children blame their parents or their teachers. Eve blamed Satan and Adam turned around and blamed God. Flip - said the devil made him do it…
Right in the beginning of the section we are studying – James says in verse 13 “Let no one say when he is tempted – I am being tempted by God” ------ he is saying to us that we must not rationalize in our minds when we are tempted that we are being tempted by God. Never fall into the trap of thinking that way…. Fill in the blank on your OUTLINE
God is never even indirectly responsible for temptation to evil. He is in no way and to no degree responsible – directly for our being tempted……
The Scottish poet – Robert Burns wrote: “You know You have formed me with wild passions - wild and strong, and by listening to their witching voice has often led me wrong.”…… A misled rabbi wrote – “God placed the good tendency on man’s right hand and the evil on his left hand.” But philosopher Philo of Alexandria wrote a more accurate statement: “When the mind has sinned and removes itself from virtue – it lays the blame on divine causes.”……….. I believe that he was simply reflecting the truth that King Solomon wrote in Proverbs 19:3 “ The foolishness of man subverts his way, and his heart rages against the Lord.”
To be victorious over temptation in your life you have to have a correct view of God and understand that God is never responsible for our temptations and that He is never responsible for our succumbing to them in sin. James gives us Four Proofs – on your outline…………..
Proof #1. We must understand the nature of evil. (vs.13b) “For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone.” God has no capacity for temptation. He cannot be associated with evil.
The very nature of evil makes it inherently foreign to God. God and evil exist in two distinct realms that never meet……. God has no vulnerability to evil but He is aware of and completely sovereign over all evil but He is untouched by it. I find that very difficult to grasp and communicate with words. Think about it this way --- (PHOTO) The dump is evil but the sunlight is shinning on it but untouched by it………. (BLANK)
This truth about the God of the Bible is not found in other religions. Gods that are man made and demon inspired reflect the sin and shortcomings of those who created them…. They not only commit gross sins but they encourage their subjects to sin. You cannot understand the nature of evil with understanding the nature of God’s holiness.
Isaiah 6:3 “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory”. God said to Moses in Lev 19:2 “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” And Peter wrote the same thing in 1 Peter 1:16 “ You shall be holy, for I am holy.”….. God’s holiness is unmixed with anything less than pure and perfect righteousness. We must understand that God has no vulnerability to evil or temptation to evil. The prophet Habakkuk wrote in 1:13 “ Your eyes are too pure to approve of evil and you cannot look upon wickedness with favor.”
If we are to be holy as God is holy then God is going to allow and permit any temptation in our lives so that we may become pure. Testing purifies us…... God wants us – He wants us to be around Him and He cannot be around us and bless us when we are around and giving into evil. Let me be a little open with you: Not giving into sexual temptation --- pornography or any other kind of sexual sin – so that my wife does not find out or I do not hurt her or so that no one in the church would not find out --- does not motivate me. I want to think this way: If I am pursuing being transformed by the renewing of my mind --- if I really want to be walking with God – thinking like Christ – then I want to stay away from that which will pollute me. If I am pursing holiness in sexual purity why would I want to go backwards??? Understand the nature of evil. Now look at the second proof.
Proof #2. We must understand the nature of man. (vs.14) “but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.” (BLANK) The first point is to understand the nature of evil and then secondly, the nature of man. Every human is tempted. Temptation never stops. It is a continual event in the life of a human. James says that a man or a woman is dragged away and enticed by His or her own evil desire. The words that James uses here give the picture of a man being dragged away…. as if he is compelled by an inner desire…. and the word enticed – gives the picture of a baited trap designed to get an animal, like this guy was trapped. (PHOTO) and then look at this (PHOTO) it was like a fisherman putting a big juicy worm on a hook and letting it down over the side of the boat into the water and the fish had no choice but to go for it. Animals and fish are lured into traps and hooks because the right kind of bait is to attractive for them to resist. (BLANK) Jim Spoull is a fisherman and he tells me to be a successful fisherman you have to know the right kind of bait at the right time for the specific fish. It looks good and it smells good and the desire for the bait is so intense that it causes them to loose all caution and overlook and ignore the trap or the hook until it is too late…….. This is the same way that you and I give into temptation. Our lust draws us toward things that are appealing to our fleshly desire.
Now a word of caution here: In the church we tend to think wrongly when it comes lust. We associate lust only with sexual desire, so let me give you a definition. Fill in the blank on your outline of the definition I have given you.
Lust = epithumia. A deep, strong desire or longing for any thing, good or bad. You cannot only apply it to sexual desire. I think of this in terms of this past Christmas season – knowing that in our house right by the microwave was a box of high end chocolates that my brother sent from Cincinnati and in the freezer was 6 1 pt containers of East Coast Famous Graders Full Fat Ice Cream that my dad sent. Oh – I can still feel the strong desire and longing I had for those items – even though I had already had all the cookies and peanut brittle I needed……. That leads us to the third proof that God is not responsible for our temptations.
Proof #3. We must understand the nature of lust. (vs. 15 -16) “Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” James now shifts from hunting and fishing terms to childbirth to illustrate his point. He says that lust is just like a mother giving birth but the end result is death. There are four steps in this birthing process of lust to sin to death. John MacArthur gives them to us in 4 d’s.
* Desire – this is the same as lust or epithumia. It begins first as an emotion. It is a feeling or longing for something that may be subconscious. It develops deep within us that expresses a desire to acquire – to achieve or possess something that we do not have. It could be a possession --- it could be power or a position or even a person. It can be sparked by a number of things. We walk by a jewelry store and see something in it with our eyes – we get bored and look up at something in the kitchen – we drive by the car lot and see the new car 72 months no interest – you have to have that --- you deserve it. This is the way you and I were before we came to Christ – you had no choice but to give into those desires….. but now as a believer those chains have been broken – you do not have to give in.
Ephesians 2:3 “All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.” ------------- the believer was once that way --- the believer no longer has to gratify the cravings of their sinful nature and follow their desires and thoughts ----- they have been set free…. That is the position of the believer….. Desire…..
* Deception – this is related to the mind or thinking more than ones emotions. We think about a desired object. We rationalize or justify getting it. We think about how we were wronged and how we are going to get back at someone. We do not have to convince ourselves – we simply want it and we are going to do it and as James says, “it gives birth to sin.” Desire – deception
* Design – we make plans to fulfill our emotional desires that we have already rationalized and justified in our minds. At this stage we have made a conscious decision to pursue our lust until it is satisfied and it is at this stage where the most guilt lies. Design……. Deception…. Desire….
* Disobedience – if we allow the process to continue to this stage it gives birth to sin. We disobey God’s law. That which is desired, rationalized, and willed is actually done, committed and accomplished. Desire leads to deception, deception to design and design to disobedience which is sin. It is not a mistake --- it is sin. Thomas a Kempis in his book the Imitation of Christ wrote, “At first temptation is a mere thought confronting the mind, then imagination paints it in stronger colors, only after do we take pleasure in it, and the will makes a false move, and we give our assent.”
The earlier in the process that you and I are determined to resist, the greater the likely hood we will avoid sin. When Satan tempted Jesus – Jesus immediately said “it is written”. When the unbelievable knockout of a woman got of the car – he turned his head and prayed. When he thought to gossip – he kept his mouth shut and repeated the scripture verse he memorized.
When he was tempted to give into anger ---- he told her how he felt and how she hurt him. As a believer – we must mature to the point where we learn to control our emotional responses to temptations when they first appear. The battle begins and must be fought in our minds where sin is conceived. Dr Lloyd Jones says that we must preach to ourselves God’s Word. When you get to stage two at deception you must make your thinking be obedient to Christ.
Philippains 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”……….. When we do not think about that which is true and that which noble and that which is right and pure ---- we move onto design which leads us to disobedience.” And in Colossians 3:2 we are told to set our mind on things above. What are the things above? Well they are the things of God. The Word of God. What does God say about us? What are the promises of God? If we are going to be victorious over lust then we must understand the nature of lust and then #4
4. We must understand the nature of God. (vs. 17) “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
James has already said that God is not responsible for temptation because His nature is incompatible with evil. What comes from God is not sin. God only sends every good and perfect gift. The perfect holiness and goodness of God only results in that which is good and perfect and holy. What God does…. always reflects His character. James uses the term “The Father of lights” – this is an ancient Jewish term for God. It refers to Him as creator and the giver of light in the form of the sun – the moon and the stars……. Those forms of light that God created will eventually fade – but the light of God has no variation – no shifting and no shadows. Malachi writes --- “I the Lord do not change” and John writes “God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.” Let me be a theologian here…… So --- if we are to come to the Light and live in the Light --- we must have no darkness. So – when temptation comes and we are tested and we stand up under the test and we choose the way of escape – there is perhaps a greater shining of the light from our lives?
God is not only the source of good gifts – He is the source of the giving impulse. Your giving is an indication to you of your closeness to God. Giving is a reflection of the image of God in you. The believer who gives – reflects the light of God. When you give you learn to trust God and not trust what tempts you.
You are going to be tempted this week. God never takes a vacation – He is always working in the life of His children. He is patient ---- He does not condemn His children ---- He simply has put into action everything in His economy for His children to be molded more into His image. Temptation is one of those tools that He uses. Listen to these words of Pastor Doug Fields on the subject of temptation and then we will close in prayer.
TEMPTATION VIDEO CLIP BY DOUG FIELDS
Closing Prayer: Andy Getas
