TEMPTATION: IT COMES FROM WITHIN

Friends, today, I want to invite us into the conversation James is having with the early Christians—a conversation that is as relevant today as it was back then. He speaks to us about temptation, about sin, about death—and, thank God, about life.

There’s something very honest about how James deals with the human condition. He doesn’t sugarcoat it. He understands our struggles, but he also points us to the solution.

James 1:13–15 ESV

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. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

SOURCE OF TEMPTATION

James 1:13 ESV

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.

TEMPTATION COMES FROM INSIDE NOT OUTSIDE OF US.

This point is you never sin except for one cause. There’s only one cause to your sin, and that is you want to sin. Nobody makes you sin. No conditions make you sin. You only do it because you desire it. That’s very important in our modern day and in our culture to know that. Notice he says you must not make the mistake of confusing the cause of your sin for the occasion.

Let’s say you’re bitter. Let’s say you’ve done something wrong. Let’s say you’ve lied. Let’s say you’ve abused somebody. There’s a big difference between the cause and the occasion. The occasion is the test, but the cause is your own desire. For example, an algebra teacher gives a test. The purpose of the test is to show you what’s in the heart, but if the student has not learned the material, the test doesn’t cause the student’s failure. It’s the lack of discipline and the lack of knowledge in the student.

The test is the occasion for the failure but not the cause of the failure. That’s very important. You realize, however, the student could very easily say, “If that stupid algebra teacher hadn’t tested me, I wouldn’t have gotten an F.” You can make a mistake, a very self-justifying one, in which you mistake the occasion for the cause. This is extremely important.

COURSE OF TEMPTATION

James 1:14–15 ESV

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

DECEPTION

Revelation 20:10 ESV

and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Genesis 3:13 ESV

Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Deuteronomy 11:16 ESV

Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them;

DESIRES

epithymia, means literally an “overdesire,” The way sin works,

The essence of sin, is not that we want bad things, but we want things so badly or too badly.

An “epidesire” is an overdesire, and this tells us it’s your overdesires that seduce you. This is powerful theological imagery. In the Old Testament, God tells us he never sees sin as just breaking the rules. He sees it as spiritual adultery.

In the Old Testament, God characterizes himself as our Husband, and he characterizes his people as his wife. He never just sees us as breaking the rules. He says the reason people sin is they are enticed away into the arms of other lovers. What are these other lovers? Anything that becomes a way to self-esteem more than God becomes a fatal attraction. That’s what an epidesire is, a fatal attraction.

The Bible tells us that sin is not just breaking the rules. Sin begins when something becomes your lover rather than God. Something becomes the author of your self-esteem. It’s okay to want work or a career, but when the career becomes the way you feel good about yourself and the way you feel happy about life, it becomes a fatal attraction. You go after it. You need to have it. You have to have it. The Bible says that’s spiritual adultery. That’s how sin starts. What’s wrong with career? Nothing, but an epidesire for career is seduction, spiritually speaking.

So what exactly is James saying about desire? He’s pointing to a basic truth about human nature: our desires shape the direction of our lives. And not all desires are sinful. God created us with good desires—desires for love, for purpose, for security, for intimacy. These are God-given. But in our fallen condition, our desires can become disordered.

When our desires are no longer aligned with God’s will, they can lead us into temptation. James uses two key words here to describe how temptation works: “lured” and “enticed.” These words carry a vivid imagery. James is using the language of hunting and fishing—of being drawn toward a trap, of being baited with something that looks good but hides a hook.

Temptation is the bait, and our desires are the reason we bite. It’s not the bait itself that is the problem—it’s the fact that something within us is drawn to it. Sin doesn’t start with the temptation itself; it starts when we allow our desires to lure us, to entice us. That’s how the enemy works—he takes our natural, good desires and twists them, offering us the illusion of fulfillment, when in reality, it’s a trap.

Temptation takes a good desire and twists it. And because the source of temptation is within us, in our own hearts, we need to guard against those desires taking control.

James uses the imagery of being “lured and enticed” because temptation never looks like destruction on the surface. It always promises something good. Temptation promises immediate satisfaction, pleasure, or relief, but it hides the long-term consequences.

The things that entice us often appear good and satisfying, but there’s always a hook. The pleasure is short-lived, and the consequences are devastating. Temptation always overpromises and underdelivers.

Temptation doesn’t force you to sin, but it lures you toward it. Temptation is an invitation, but it’s your own desire that makes you say “yes.” It’s not as if we’re victims in this process; we are responsible for allowing our desires to drag us toward sin.

DECISION

Conception means something inside that’ll eventually come outside.

James wants us to see it clearly so that we understand the full weight of yielding to it. He doesn’t want us to be fooled into thinking that sin is a small thing or that it can be indulged without consequences. Temptation, when unchecked, leads down a path that culminates in spiritual death.

James’ choice of words here is significant. He says that desire “conceives”. In other words, desire isn’t passive—it’s active. Just as conception requires the union of two things, sinful desire is born when our internal desires meet the external lure of temptation. At that moment, something is conceived in our hearts.

This conception doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when we entertain temptation instead of rejecting it. When we allow ourselves to dwell on the things that entice us, when we fantasize about them, when we rationalize them in our minds, we are giving temptation a foothold. We are allowing desire to conceive.

DELIVERY

Once desire has conceived, James tells us, it “gives birth to sin.” There is a direct link between what happens in our hearts and the actions we take. Sin doesn’t just spring out of nowhere; it’s born from the desires we nurture within us.

When we give in to temptation—when we act on the desires that lure us—we are no longer just experiencing temptation; we are now engaging in sin. And the frightening thing is, this transition from desire to sin often happens subtly. What begins as a passing thought can grow into a habit if we don’t deal with it swiftly.

James is teaching us that sin is the natural offspring of unchecked desire. This is why guarding our hearts is so crucial. If we allow sinful desires to take root, they will inevitably lead to sinful actions.

It’s important to understand that sin, in its essence, is more than just breaking a rule. It’s a relational breach between us and God. Sin is a willful decision to go against God’s design for our lives, to turn away from His goodness, and to pursue something else as if it can satisfy us. It’s a rejection of God’s authority and a rebellion against His holiness.

DEVELOPMENT

James is showing us that sin is not stagnant. Once sin takes root in our lives, it doesn’t just stay the same—it grows. It matures. It takes more ground, spreads its influence, and gains a tighter grip on our hearts. What may have started as a small indulgence can quickly become a habit, and then a lifestyle. Sin rarely stays small. It’s deceptive in that way—it seems manageable at first, but it always seeks to dominate.

We like to think that giving in to sin is a way of “getting it out of our system”; that if we indulge it, it’ll go away and leave us alone. James shows us just how mistaken that thinking is. Acting on sin is never the end of it. It takes on a life of its own.

DEATH

And what is the end result of sin? Death. This is the ultimate consequence of yielding to temptation. James is drawing our attention to the serious nature of sin. It’s not a trivial matter. It’s not something we can play with or manage on our own. Sin, when allowed to grow, leads to death.

For 8 years, Sally had been the Romero family pet. She was only 1 foot long when they brought her home. But Sally grew and grew until eventually she reached a length of 11 feet and weighed 80 pounds. Then one day Sally, a Burmese python, turned on 15-year-old Derek, strangling the unsuspecting teenager until he died of suffocation. Police said that the snake was "quite aggressive, hissing, and reacting" when they arrived to investigate the young man's death. Sin is like that snake. When a sin first enters our lives, we think of it as harmless, almost cute. Yet it doesn't stay small. Sin has a way of growing. We think we can handle it, but then it begins to handle us. And it always leads to death—sometimes physical death, and often emotional death. At other times it leads to the death of a relationship. And if sin is not confessed and forsaken, it will bring spiritual death. That's why James warned us that "sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death" (1:15). His purpose in saying that was not to spoil our fun but to preserve our highest joys. If you are playing with a pet sin in your life, God urges you to beware. It's a life-and-death matter. —

RESOURCE FOR OVERCOMING TEMPTATION

Thomas Chalmers was a great Scottish preacher in the 1840s. His most famous sermon was The Expulsive Power of a New Affection, and his thesis statement was,

“The only way to break the hold of a beautiful object on the soul is to show it an object even more beautiful.”

In other words, moral duty or self-restraint, though important, does not have the power to truly change the heart. The heart is naturally inclined toward what it loves, so if we do not replace sinful affections with something more compelling, they will continue to dominate.

When Christ becomes our highest treasure, the desires that once captivated our hearts—whether for material things, sensual pleasure, or pride—are displaced. As Chalmers says,

The love of the world is overcome, not by a mere demonstration of the world's worthlessness, but by a heart-gripping revelation of the worth of Christ.

This transformation is not a human work but the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit empowers us to see Christ more clearly and kindles within us a deeper love for God. Chalmers emphasizes that we must rely on the Holy Spirit to cultivate this affection for Christ and that this process happens gradually as we walk in faith.

Cultivate a deeper love for God

Spend time in prayer, reading Scripture, and meditating on the gospel, particularly focusing on the love of Christ. Let this new affection grow stronger over time.

Replace sinful desires with godly pursuits

Rather than focusing on what you are giving up, turn your attention to the beauty and joy of a life lived in God’s presence.

Be patient with the process

This change of affections takes time. We should continually seek after God and trust that He is working in us to transform our hearts.