"Victory Over Temptations"

James 1:12-18 “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. 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: 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. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. 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: 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.”

I. Intro

James reminds his readers to understand that trials come from God in order to strengthen the believer. Temptation takes place when the child of God is carried away and enticed by his or her own lust; however, the Christian should not be deceived when under temptation. Every good thing and every perfect gift comes from God, who does not change or shift in His ways.

When James uses the word “entice” it has to do with baiting or putting a worm on a hook. Why does a fisherman put a worm on a hook? To hide the real danger. It’s not about the worm. The worm is just the attraction. The real danger from the fisherman’s standpoint is the hook, but a fish is not going to go swimming towards a hook. Fish are dumb, but they are not crazy. It won’t swim towards a hook, but it will swim towards a worm, not understanding that the worm is just covering the real danger.

II. Temptations and Trials

The mature person is patient in trials. Sometimes the trials are testings on the outside, and sometimes they are temptations on the inside. Trials may be tests sent by God, or they may be temptations sent by Satan and encouraged by our own fallen nature. It is this second aspect of trials-temptations on the inside-that James dealt within this section. Why did James connect trials on the outside and temptations on the inside? If we are not careful, the trials on the outside may become the temptations on the inside. When our circumstances are difficult, We may find ourselves complaining against God, questioning His love, and resisting His will. At this point, Satan provides us with an opportunity to escape the difficulty. This opportunity is a temptation.

A temptation is an opportunity to accomplish a good thing in a bad way, outside of God’s will. Is it wrong to want to pass an exam? Of course not, but if you cheat on that exam to get a passing core, then you have sinned. The temptation to cheat is an opportunity to accomplish a good thing in a bad way.

We think of sin as a single act, but God sees it as a process. Adam and Eve committed one act of sin, and yet that one act brought sin, death, and judgment on the entire human race. James described this process in four stages.

III. Four Stages of Sin

Desire

The word ‘lust’ means any kind of desire, and not necessarily sexual passions. The normal desires of life were given to us by God and, of themselves, are not sinful. Without these desires, we could not function. Unless we felt hunger and thirst, we would never eat and drink, and we would die. Without fatigue, the body would never rest and would eventually wear out. Sex is a normal desire, and without it, the human race could not continue. But outside the bonds of marriage, sex is a sin. It is when we want to satisfy these desires in ways outside of God’s will that we get into trouble. Eating is normal; gluttony is a sin. Sleep is normal; laziness is a sin. Sex is normal; sexual immorality is a sin. Hebrews 13:4 “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”

Deception

No temptations appears as temptations; it always seems more alluring than it really is. James used two illustrations from the world of sports to prove his point. ‘Drawn away’ carries with it the idea of the baiting of a trap; and ‘enticed’ in the original Greek mean “to bait a hook.” The hunter and the fisherman have to use bait to attract and catch their prey. No animal is deliberately going to step into a trap and no fish will knowingly bite at a naked hook. The idea is to hide the trap and the hook. When Jesus was tempted by Satan, He always dealt with the temptations on the basis of the Word of God. Three times He said, “It is written.”

Matthew 4:1–11 KJV 1900

Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

From the the human perspective,, turning stones into bread to satisfy hunger is a sensible thing to do; but not from God’s point of view. When you know the Bible, you can detect the bait and deal with it decisively. This is what it means to walk by faith and not by sight.

Disobedience

James changed the picture from hunting and fishing to the birth of a baby. Desire conceives a method for taking the bait. The will approves and acts, and the result is sin. Whether we feel it or not, we are trapped and hooked. Christian living is a matter of the will, not the feelings. I often hear believers say, “I don’t feel like reading the Bible.” Or, “I don’t feeling attending Bible Study.” Children operate on the basis of feeling, but adults operate on the basis of will. This explains why immature Christians easily fall into temptation: They let their feelings make the decisions. The more you exercise your will to say no to temptation the more God will take control of your life. Philippians 2:13 “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”

Death

Disobedience gives birth to death, not life. It may take years for the sin to mature, but when it does, the result will be death. If we will only believe God’s Word, it will encourage us not to yield to temptation. God has created this barrier because He loves us. Ezekiel 18:23 “Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?” These four stages in temptation and sin are perfectly depicted in the first sin recorded in Genesis 3.

The serpent used desire to interest Eve. Genesis 3:5 “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”

Paul described the deception of Eve in 2 Corinthians 11:3 “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

Eve disobeyed God by taking the fruit of the tree and eating it.

Both Adam and Eve experienced immediate spiritual death (separation from God) and ultimate physical death. All men die because of Adam and Eve. 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”

IV. Conclusion

The person who dies without Christ will experience eternal death, the lake of fire. Revelation 20:11-15 “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Whenever you are faced with temptation, get your eyes off the bait and look ahead to see the consequences of sin: the judgment of God. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”