The great British playwright Oscar Wilde once said, “I can resist everything…except temptation.” Has a truer statement ever been spoken? And what’s unique about temptation is that each person is tempted by different things. Some people are tempted toward materialism. Others are tempted to always get revenge. Some people are tempted to eat pickles, while others of us are committed to going to heaven…you get the idea. But the universal thing about temptation is that it is a common struggle. It is a part of our fallen nature. Ever since the Garden of Eden, humanity has been tempted to want what it should not want. That’s why we need Jesus, not just to save us from hell, but to reorient the affections of our hearts.
Here’s some good news for our common struggle against temptation – God wrote a book. And according to 2 Peter 1:3, the Bible is totally sufficient for everything we need for life and godliness. So turn with me this morning to the book of James as we continue the series we started last week called Faith and Works. At the beginning of chapter one, we learned that God use trials to make us more like Jesus. Trials are God moving towards us, not turning away from us. We learned that faithfully enduring trials is one of the evidences of genuine salvation. Saving faith will always be persevering faith. And because trials are for our good, as counter intuitive as it sounds, we can actually rejoice IN them because we have confidence that God is at work in us. And now this week, we’re going to see James transition from talking about trials, to warning us about temptation.
James 1:13-18
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
And so as James moves from trials to temptation, here’s the first thing I want you to see about the temptation to sin…
1. DON’T PLAY THE BLAME GAME – vs 13-16
It’s really one of the most devastating parts of any relationship: blame. If you were to Google “The Blame Game” you’d come up with several different books with the same title. Lots of people have written about it. There’s even a Berenstain Bears book called the “The Blame Game.” And I think we can all agree that if the blame game is affecting the Berenstain Bears, then the rest of us are in real trouble. The Blame Game is what we do when something doesn’t go our way…we blame someone else. Think about it. In Genesis 3, the very first time sin was introduced to the world, the response of Adam was, “It’s Eve’s fault.” And do you remember Eve’s response? “The serpent deceived me.” You see, we all love the idea that somehow our struggles are not our fault…even if we’re the common denominator in the midst of all of them.
And here’s what I’ve learned over the years. When it comes to all the evil and pain in the world, God receives a lot of the blame too. In fact, this is a huge reason why so many people walk away from the faith…because some how, some way, God didn’t do right by them. In fact, let me go back and read from Genesis 3: 11 “Who told you that you were naked?” the LORD God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it” (NLT). Did you catch that? Adam was very quick to remind God that HE was the one who gave Adam the woman in the first place.
But before you find the speck in Adam’s eye and cry, “Oh, the audacity,” guess what? Sometimes WE are little Adams…and if we’re not careful, we’ll place the blame at God’s feet for something that goes wrong in OUR lives. And here’s how we might do this. We blame God for trials, because we view them incorrectly as something God is doing TO us instead of FOR us. And listen to me closely, if we are not careful, we can fall into Adam’s pattern and even blame God for the temptations that overtake us.
But James, who we learned last week is a tell-it-like-it-is kind of pastor, leaves zero margin for God as the problem when it comes to temptation. Listen to how James puts it in verse 13: “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.” And while trials and temptation are NOT the same thing – one is God moving TOWARDS us and the other is us moving AWAY from God – there is still a connection between the two. I know it’s early, but if you’re listening, smack someone and say, WAKE UP. Trials, especially prolonged or painful ones, serve as catalysts for temptation.
Let me give you a few real life examples:
• Financial trial – there’s temptation to distrust God’s provision
• Death of a loved one – temptation to question God’s love
• Unjust suffering – temptation to believe God is not fair
God may TEST us in these areas, but know this—according to verse 13, God does not, cannot, and will not tempt us to sin. There is no trace of sin in God.
So who SHOULD I blame for my sins? There’s a huge temptation to point the finger and pass the buck. Maybe we want to blame our upbringing, co-workers, or our kids. Maybe we blame the government or our terrible boss. If you start typing the words “Blame it on…” in Google, it will autofill with “Blame it on the alcohol.” But if you really want to know who’s to blame for your sin, then take out your phone and take a selfie. That’s who to blame. Don’t pass the buck onto someone else, don’t blame God. 14 But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires.” WE’RE the ones to blame.
Now I’m sure some of us were waiting for James to tell us that it was Satan who was causing us to sin…don’t get me wrong. Satan does play a part…but it’s us. It’s OUR desires. It’s what’s happening inside our desperately wicked and deceitful hearts. It’s what happens when OUR hearts tell us that something other than God will satisfy, when WE step out of God’s good design, and chart our own course. The responsibility for sin is on us. There’s no one else to blame. The Apostle Paul said it best, “For I know nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh” (Romans 7:18). It’s MY sinful flesh at fault, and I am responsible for my response to every trial in life. It’s time we own this.
James thinks it’s so important to understand the origin of our sin, that he very vividly lays out the progressive nature of how sin works…or as some call it: The Sin Cycle.
1. Deception
Take a look at verse 16. “Do not be deceived.” This is a command that we need to hear this morning. Do not be deceived. What is deception? It’s questioning God. It’s when we DON’T believe what God has said is true and best for us. This is where sin starts. This is illustrated once again in Genesis 3. In the Garden of Eden, God told Adam and Eve they could eat of every tree except one. If they ate of that one tree, they would surely die. And what did Satan say to Adam and Eve? He said, “Did God really say that? Are you sure that’s what he said? I don’t think he really meant it, do you?” He deceived them. And when they trusted Satan instead of God, they were deceived and they ate the fruit…and here we are today: #thankyouadamandeve.
2. Desire
James says there’s this thing inside us all called desire. And desires are not necessarily inherently bad. We have desires to do good, to serve others, to worship God, and my favorite, the desire for fall so we can eat Pumpkin Pie. But when our desires grow into RULING desires—or demands—that means we are on the path of idolatry. Because an idol promises to satisfy our hearts more than Jesus can. And a ruling desire is a demand that says, “I have to have this” or otherwise in the words of the great prophet, Mick Jagger, “I can’t get no satisfaction.”
As you all can probably imagine, I was very mature for my age in Junior High. And one year we had to write a poem, so here’s what I turned in (looking back, I don’t think it was original to me):
"There once was a bird with a yellow bill, sitting on my window sill. I lured him in with a piece of bread, and then I smashed his little head."
“I lured him in with a piece of bread.” That’s the language that James uses… imagery of a hunter drawing prey away from safety in order to trap them (or in this case, smash his little head). James says we’re tempted when we’re “lured” and “enticed” by our own desire. And that’s what temptation does. It hides itself and appeals to our desires, draws us in, all without telling us that the end game is getting our little heads smashed. And James says that when we are lured and enticed by these desires, it gives birth to sin.
Deception-->Desire--> and here’s the third step in this Sin Cycle…
3. Disobedience
The enemy gets our attention through deception and gets us thinking about other options. Then our desires entice us into wanting something not good for us. And when we act upon this deception and wrong desire, we disobey. We are standing inside of God’s good design, but we have this desires for what is outside, and when we step out of his good design, it’s called disobedience.
4. Death
And when we step out in disobedience, the Sin Cycle leads to death. “15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” Listen to verse 15 in The Message paraphrase: “Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby [named] sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.” Wow! Is that a great word picture, or what? “Disobedience leads to death.” The word death here is the Greek word thanatos. And in the widest sense it means “death comprising all the miseries arising from sin.” Simply put, sin will kill whatever is alive and well in your life…family, reputation, career...sin will kill it. So don’t minimize your sin. Don’t minimize deception or desires that are ungodly. In fact, do the opposite, magnify the consequences of sin.
I think one of the biggest temptations of sin is that we believe we can manage it. I’ll admit this about myself. Instead of running away from the edge of the cliff, I like to experience the thrill of getting really close to the edge. Sometimes our churches fail to talk about sin because they want to emphasize love…but sometimes the most loving thing we can do is to help paint a picture of what the bloody mess is going to look like when you fall to the bottom of the cliff…meanwhile you’re whistling on your little handbasket ride off the edge. Some of you are actually doing things, or on the verge of doing things, that are going to kill everything good in your life. And you’re busy convincing yourself that everything is fine.
I’m always intrigued by the stories of lion-tamers that are mauled to death or seriously injured (Roy Horn). But I’m even more intrigued when people are shocked that it happened. “Can you believe that a wild animal would do such a thing?” Yes, yes I can. That’s what wild animals do…and you’re an idiot to think that you know better than the rest of nature. I’m reminded of the Puritan John Owen that said, “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.” Stop trying to tame sin, because sin will eat you for lunch and then quickly move on to its next victim. Let me tell you how this plays out in the counselor’s office—someone comes in, their head in their hands, whose life is in shambles, saying, “I have no idea how I ended up here. How did my life come to this?” Here’s how – it’s began when you started treating temptation and sin like bunnies instead of lions.
Here’s the good new if you’re battling temptation. I am a firm believer that a guardrail at the top of the cliff is a better strategy than an emergency room at the bottom. And so here are some guard rails to put up to keep you from needlessly entering the Sin Cycle (or even to battle out of the Sin Cycle if that’s where you find yourself today).
1. Run
Run as fast as you can away from the temptation. Last week concerning trials, we said, “Don’t Run away from what God is trying to teach you.” But with temptations, we say, “Run.” We’ve said a hundred times that your biggest danger is not the devil “out there,” but the wicked and deceitful heart “in here.” So don’t trust your own willpower...don’t believe the lie that you are smart enough or strong enough to battle temptation. Listen to Proverbs 4: “14 Don’t do as the wicked do, and don’t follow the path of evildoers. 15 Don’t even think about it; don’t go that way. Turn away and keep moving (NLT).”
So, let me ask you a very personal and practical question – Is there anything that you need to run from right now? And some of you have something that immediately comes to mind – let me remind you what verse 15 says, it’s going to eventually kill everything good in your life. Magnify the consequences.
2. Insulate your mind
Psalm 119:11: “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” Saturating your mind with Scripture equips you to make right decisions and protects you from making wrong ones. It’s that simple. The goal is to fill your mind with truth so that tempting thoughts have some competition for mental real estate.
3. Use the buddy system
Hebrews 3:12-13: “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” The word picture here for “exhort one another” is literally the idea of whispering in someone’s ear. And so who in your life has permission to say, “I think you’re stepping outside of God’s good design”? Yes, God has given us the Word of God as we battle sin, but he has also given us the People of God. In other words, becoming more like Jesus is a community project.
And the fourth step, or guard rail, is actually our second big idea this morning…
2. BE CONVINCED THAT CHRIST TRULY SATISFIES – vs 17-18
Let me share with you a principle that we have shared over and over and over. Listen closely—the reason people get into sinful patterns is because they have yet to be fully convinced that the life God offers them will be more satisfying than the one they are pursuing. You see, if you really want to weaken the power of temptation in your life, then you have to be fully convinced that any good and satisfying gift will come from God, and not from sin.
Pick back up at the second half of verse 16: “My beloved brothers. (James is pleading with them out of affection.) 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”
Here’s how temptation works. It tries to convince you that good gifts can be given by sin…when in reality, the only thing sin can produce is death. It’s the shiniest apple you have ever seen on the outside, but it’s completely rotten and riddled with worms on the inside. And let me tell you what happens when you start to get tempted…you will start to doubt verses 17 & 18. And instead of believing that God is offering you good gifts that will truly satisfy your heart, you will start to believe that God is, in fact, holding out on you. You will be tempted to believe that God is trying to control you, instead of trying to protect you.
I need you to wake the person beside you this morning because this is so important…in fact, it’s one of the most important things we’ve tried to teach over the years. The reason you do what you do is because your heart wants what it wants. And the reason your heart wants what it wants is because you believe what you believe. And we often find our hearts believing that something else can satisfy other than Jesus. And if you are not fully convinced that Jesus Christ alone can not only can save you from a future in hell, but also satisfy your heart in the present, then you will be tempted to think that sin is a lion that you can pet safely.
Church, I want you all to know that one day there will be no more trials and no more temptations. No more blame-shifting and no more sin to lure us away from God. But until that day, take heart. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus has been tempted in EVERY way, just as we are, and yet never once gave in to the temptation of sin. Jesus not only saves us from sin and provide strength through trials, but this verse promises us that he sympathizes with our weakness…I hope you realize what an incredible thought that is. He’s been there, and conquered that. And as a result, he’s not detached from our struggles. And he can help keep you from sin as you face temptations. “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”
“Well, here’s the problem, Pastor. I’ve already given in. I was exhausted from this trial, and I fell for the lies spinning out of my sinful heart…and I’ve sinned. Now what do I do.” If those are your words this morning, let me encourage you with the words from 1 John 2:1: “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” What that means is Jesus is standing between our sin and God and saying, “It’s okay, they are with me.” That’s the good news of the gospel. Jesus understands when saints are tempted to sin, intercedes when we give into sin, and has the power to turn sinners into saints when they turn to him for forgiveness. Church, it literally does not get any better than that.
