Don't Be Series
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Intro:
W.W.W. (not “world wide web”) Warren Wendel Wiersbe is a popular name for many reasons and for good reason! First, he’s a godly pastor that holds to conservative evangelicalism — the true faith! Second, he’s a well studied man who is a seminary graduate who authored over 150 books with over 10,000 books in his personal library! He pastored Chicago’s Moody Church for seven years, and he worked at the Back to the Bible radio broadcast as general director for ten years.
Warren Wiersbe’s 50 book commentary set, the BE Series Commentaries, is probably what gave him the most fame in the public eye. His commentary on James in that Be series is called “BE Mature” Well, in preparing this sermon, I saw the passage we find ourselves in today for our look through the book of James that James, himself, has a sort-of miniature Don’t BE series!
lets turn to Chapter 1 starting at verse 13
James 1:13-164
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. 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.
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. 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.
Last week we saw a reward of passing God’s tests— the crown of Life, this week we see a glimpse of failing.
Persecution, in of itself, caused many problems for these early Christians. One of those problems may be somewhat surprising or even shocking to us: Persecution caused for many believers a temptation to sin! I know this because James is addressing this, but in what way were they sinning, or at least, tempted? First, many Christians were strongly tempted to reply in like kind to their persecutors: “If they hurt me, I will hurt them back!” We could call this today the ‘don’t get mad; get even’ temptation. I’m sure none of us here today struggle with this type of thinking.
But temptation came from persecution in at least, one other way, namely, the temptation to use persecution as a justification for their sin. In other words, some of those who were suffering for their Christianity were reasoning something along these lines: ‘My life is so difficult that I am entitled to do whatever I can to make it more bearable or even pleasurable.’
People have often allowed their difficulties to give them a sense of entitlement. Some of them have even allowed themselves to conclude that God is the source of their temptations. They may very well have reasoned along these lines:
But temptation came from persecution in at least, one other way, namely, the temptation to use persecution as a justification for their sin. In other words, some of those who were suffering for their Christianity were reasoning something along these lines: ‘My life is so difficult that I am entitled to do whatever I can to make it more berable or even pleasurable.’
God has sent the trial.
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. 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.
James 1:13-15
James 1:
The trial has caused me to be tempted.
Therefore, God has tempted me to sin.
Do you reason like this? if so, keep listening. First off don’t lose all hope
This kind of wrong thinking has been going on since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden. From the beginning it has been a natural human response to make excuses and blame others for sin. Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent. But notice that, in blaming Eve, Adam stressed that it was God who had given her to him [[]].
12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 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.”
The whole sin problem was God’s fault in Adam’s eyes! Someone once said, ‘To err is human; to blame it on the divine is even more human.’ This type of thing led Will Rogers to say that there are two eras in American history—the passing of the buffalo and the passing of the buck!
So in these verses from our passage in James, he moves from trials to temptations. In doing so, he clears God of wrongdoing in verse 13 and exposes the true culprit by the next verse.
But first in the Don’t BE series, James essentially says:
Don’t be presuming
Don’t be presuming
1:13 “Let no one say” This is a PRESENT ACTIVE IMPERATIVE with the NEGATIVE PARTICLE which could translate to a more forceful: “stop saying.” The implication is that some believers were saying this. This reflects the literary technique called diatribe or a condemnation on the believer who does say this sort of thing.
Since some early believers knew that God allowed trials, He then must also be the source of their temptation.
We must have a correct view of God in order to persevere during times of trial. Specifically, we need to understand God’s view of our temptations. Trials and temptations always present us with choices. God wills for us to make good choices, not evil ones. As we’ve already seen, hardships can produce spiritual maturity and lead to eternal benefits if we’ve endured in faith. But tests can also be failed. We can give in to temptation. And when we fail, we often use all kinds of excuses and reasons for our actions. The most dangerous of these is to say, “God is tempting me.” It is crucial for us to remember that God tests people for good; he does not tempt people for evil.
Even during temptation we can see God’s sovereignty in permitting Satan to tempt us in order to refine our faith and help us grow in our dependence on Christ. Instead of persevering (1:12), we may give in or give up in the face of trial. We might even make excuses and rationalize that God is at fault for sending such a trying experience, and thus blame God for our failure. A person who makes excuses is trying to shift blame to something or someone else--as we just from Adam & Eve. A Christian, on the other hand, accepts responsibility for his or her wrongs, confesses them, and asks God for forgiveness. Because YHWH is never tempted to do wrong, he cannot be the author of temptation. James is likely also arguing against the pagan view of the gods where good and evil coexisted and are both necessary for the universe. God does not wish evil on people; he does not cause evil; he does not try to trip people up—he never tempts anyone.
At this point, the question may be rightly asked: “If God really loves us, why doesn’t he protect us from temptation?” A God who kept us from temptation would be a God unwilling to allow us to grow. In order for a test to be an effective tool for growth, it must be capable of being failed. God actually proves his love by protecting us in temptation instead of protecting us from temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13).
“for God cannot be tempted by evil” This means either:
not temptable or
“untrained in evil”
either way, though, it means that God has no connection or experience with evil. This thought reminds me of the quip, “Is there anything humans can do that God cannot?” and the answer is, of course, “yes, humans can, and do, sin” God cannot tempt anyone to sin because he cannot! His very nature is so opposed to sin that he cannot possibly tempt anyone in that direction. D. Edmond Hiebert writes, ‘God is unsusceptible to evil; evil has never had any appeal for Him. It is repugnant and abhorrent to Him.’
At this point, you could be asking the question: “If God really loves us, why doesn’t he protect us from temptation?” A God who would keep us from every temptation would be a God unwilling to allow us to grow. In order for a test to be an effective tool for growth, it has to be capable of being failed. God can and does prove his love by protecting us through the temptation instead of just protecting us from the temptation altogether.
At this point, you could be asking the question: “If God really loves us, why doesn’t he protect us from temptation?” A God who would keep us from every temptation would be a God unwilling to allow us to grow. In order for a test to be an effective tool for growth, it has to be capable of being failed. God can and does prove his love by protecting us through the temptation instead of just protecting us from the temptation altogether.
13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
God cannot tempt anyone to sin because he cannot! His very nature is so opposed to sin that he cannot possibly tempt anyone in that direction. D. Edmond Hiebert writes, ‘God is unsusceptible to evil; evil has never had any appeal for Him. It is repugnant and abhorrent to Him.’
But if God does not tempt anyone to do evil, why did Jesus teach us to pray, ‘do not lead us into temptation’ (; )? This is the big question I had when I studied this passage!
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
So in these verses, James moves from trials to temptations. In doing so, he clears God of wrong-doing and indicts the true culprit.
4 and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”
The answer, of course, is not clear in our English translations. Here the word ‘temptation’ (peirasmos) does not mean temptation to sin as it does in James (peirazō). Jesus’ prayer rather refers to tests and trials. It is a fact that the Lord does regularly send trials to his people so they may know their own spiritual condition. Asking God not to lead us into temptation in these two prayers means, then, that we ask him not to test us because we are already aware of how very weak we are.
“He Himself does not tempt anyone” However, the Bible records several of God’s tests: Abraham, ; Israel, Deut, 8:2; Jesus, ; and even believers. This statement seems to be caught up in the differing connotations between the terms “tempt” (peirazō, cf. 1:13), and “test” (dokimazō, cf. 1:3, 12). God does not tempt so as to destroy, but He does test so as to strengthen.
So then, God is cleared of wrongdoing! But we are the ones guilty of the wrong:
So then, God is cleared of wrongdoing! But we are the ones guilty of the wrong:
Don’t be tempted
Don’t be tempted
If God cannot tempt us to evil, how is it that we sin? James answers in verse 14, ‘… each one is tempted when he is lured/drawn away by his own desires and enticed’. He leaves no doubt, no debate, no room for interpretive decisions about it at all. We are individually responsible for our sin. We sin because we are sinners. We are depraved.
“I am being tempted by God” God is not the source of evil!
1:14 “when he is lured/carried away and enticed by his own desires/lust” These two verbs were used in ancient Greece for trapping and luring animals into captivity. We tend to blame others for our sin. We may blame God, the devil, parents, society, education, etc. But, honestly, we are own worst enemy.
These early Christians tried to excuse their sin by saying that God was at fault. James corrects this. Temptations come from within, from the lure of our own evil desires. James highlights individual responsibility for sin. We must understand this truth: desires can be either fed or starved! If the desire itself is evil, we must deny its wish, starve it to death. It is completely up to us, but it is also with God’s help. If we encourage our evil desires, they will soon become our actions. The blame for sin is ours alone. The kind of desire James is describing here is evil desire out of control. It is selfish and seductive.
The Bible speaks of three enemies of humanity: the world, the flesh, and the devil. In this context, “the flesh,” or our Adamic nature, is the culprit. I want you to notice that Satan is not even mentioned in this section on our sinfulness. Neither is he mentioned in Paul’s section in Romans on human sin (chapters 1–3). Satan is very real, and he is the chief tempter, but he cannot force humans to sin and is, therefore, no excuse for their moral failures—therefore, it is unbiblical to say, “Satan made me do it!”
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Does James take Satan off the hook by placing responsibility for temptation on our desires? No, he does not. Do we not sin because the devil tempts us to sin? Yes! Indeed he does! And James is not denying that. But the truth of the matter is that Satan could not have any success with us at all if it were not from the stuff in which we are made.
Satan has to have something to work with in order to lead us into sin, and our fleshly nature gives him plenty to work with! We do not possess the nature of God which gives us a complete abhorrence for sin. We rather possess a nature that readily inclines us towards it. Just as the hog has a nature that inclines it to wallow in the mud, so we have a nature that inclines us to sin.
We may be led by our desires, but it is the devil behind the impulse when we are going in an evil direction. Temptation comes from evil desires within us, not from God. We can and do both build and bait our own trap at times. It begins with an evil thought and becomes sin when we dwell on the thought and allow it to become an action.
Temptation often comes not at our strongest, but our weakest moments. When we are at the limit of our patience, love, etc., we are tempted to be unChristian. Beware, Jesus’ temptation began after 40 days of fasting.
People usually are more impressed when they see us act under pressure. One weak act may spoil a whole lifetime of witness.
1:15 James traces the result of temptation when a person yields to it. Note that the first two steps in the process (evil desires lead to evil actions) emphasize the internal nature of sin. When we yield to temptation, our sin sets deadly events into motion—evil actions lead to death. There is more to stopping sin than just stopping sinning. Damage has been done. Deciding to “sin no more” may take care of the future, but it does not heal the past. That healing must come through repentance and forgiveness. Sometimes restitution must be made. As serious as the remedy sounds, we can be deeply grateful that there is a remedy at all.
James uses two vivid images to convey to us how sin does its work.
Fishing
The first image is drawn from fishing. Curtis Vaughan observes, ‘The words translated “drawn away” (lured) and “enticed” (ensnared) are taken from the language of fishing.’ Another preacher notes that the imagery is that of ‘… a fish swimming in a straight course and then drawn off toward something that seems attractive, only to discover that the bait has a deadly hook in it’.
Childbirth
The second image is drawn from childbirth. Vaughan says, ‘The suggestion is that man’s lust, like a harlot, entices and seduces him. Man surrenders his will to lust, conception takes place, and lust gives birth to sin.’ The mere fact of our being tempted does not involve in and of itself anything sinful. It is when the desire of man goes out to meet and embrace the forbidden thing and an unholy marriage takes place between these two, that sin is born. Kent Hughes expands this picture:
There are two births here. First, evil desire gives birth to sin. And second, sin gives birth to death … The idea is that sin grows rapidly, just as an embryo grows to maturity, and when it is full-grown, the state of pregnancy must end. But the horror here is, sin does not give birth to life, as would normally be expected, but to death.
So both images end in death. The fish takes the bait, is hooked and pulled to shore, where it dies. The childbirth results in death.
The point is unmistakable. Sin is not the light, casual thing which we make it out to be. It always leads to death. Gordon Keddie is correct when he said: ‘You can only be a fun-loving sinner for so long. Soon the bill has to be paid.’ And the final installment of the death to which sin leads is eternal death, which means nothing less than separation from God, and all that is good, for ever.
No one likes the thought of God’s eternal wrath, but the Bible is unrelenting in its declaration of this reality. It is a truth written large in Scripture, and the Lord Jesus himself was the foremost proclaimer of it.
Don’t be deceived
Don’t be deceived
1:16 “Do not be deceived” This is a PRESENT PASSIVE IMPERATIVE with a NEGATIVE PARTICLE, sound familiar from verse 13? which means to “stop an act already in progress” with the added connotation of an ongoing outside temptation. we might translate it to “Stop this deception!” This is a strong idiom which is used to introduce a major truth as we can find this idiom throughout the NT. God gives good gifts, not evil temptations.
The danger behind James’s warning to us not to be misled is the temptation to believe that God does not care, or won’t help us, or may even be working against us. The picture is not pretty. If we come to believe we are alone, we have been misled. If we distrust God, we have been misled. And if we dare to accuse God of being the tempter, we have been thoroughly misled. And if you are silent about your temptations, you are deceived! Josh, what do you mean silent?
I mean this: Dr. Marty Von made an interesting and convicting statement one time on this very subject. First, he went into counseling because of an event that happened while he was still in grade school. a girl that sat just two desks beside him went missing one day. It shocked young Marty Von when the local police found the girl’s dead body. However, what was more shocking to Marty Von was the fact that it was his homeroom teacher that was guilty of the rape and murder. Somewhere between the pain and horror on peoples faces, and his teacher’s lack of fighting temptations, Marty Von vowed to be a godly counselor to help fight temptations. Later in his life he observed that the more he got into counseling those within the church the more he came to realize it was the quietest people, singles, couples, and secretive families that had the worst sin issues. The loudest ones in the church that aired all their dirty laundry, but they did just that: Aired all their dirty laundry, nothing was hidden. But the quiet ones had the most disgusting, hideous things to hide. Don’t be silent!
Don’t stick around
Don’t stick around
The great escape from temptation: This last point goes beyond our context here in this passage but certainly not beyond scripture
T
The best time to stop a temptation is before it is too great or moving too fast to control. (See ; ; and for more about escaping temptation.)
13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
in counseling it’s common to hear a person say, “I cannot stop this sin (drinking, gambling, drugs, porn), I just can’t do it!” if this is you saying this lie, stop! because the truth of the matter is you can, it’s just you won’t— you choose not to when you say, “I can’t” in fact this verse in First Corinthians not says you can, but also says you must find the God-given escape so that you can endure. What’s the secret? What is that escape?
1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,
“ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and
“ ‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”
7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’ ”
11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
what we get from here is Jesus showing us how the word of God fights temptation! then in we have a literal call to escape temptation: fleeing
22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
Josh, that’s not literal, well okay how about Joseph and Potiphar's Wife in
Joseph and Potiphar's Wife in
11 But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, 12 she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house.
he fled so fast he left his clothes there. what do you think would have happened if Joseph stayed there for a while longer thinking on it and talking about it too long?
Like a snowball rolling downhill, sin grows more destructive the more we let it have its way. So stop the snow ball immediately while you can still crush it with your bare hands.
Conclusion
Frog & Toad on willpower
Toad baked some cookies. "These cookies smell very good," said Toad. He ate one. "And they taste even better," he said. Toad ran to Frog's house. "Frog, Frog," cried Toad, "taste these cookies that I have made."
Frog ate one of the cookies, "These are the best cookies I have ever eaten!" said Frog.
Frog and Toad ate many cookies, one after another. "You know, Toad," said Frog, with his mouth full, "I think we should stop eating. We will soon be sick."
"You are right," said Toad. "Let us eat one last cookie, and then we will stop." Frog and Toad ate one last cookie. There were many cookies left in the bowl.
"Frog," said Toad, "let us eat one very last cookie, and then we will stop." Frog and Toad ate one very last cookie.
"We must stop eating!" cried Toad as he ate another.
"Yes," said Frog, reaching for a cookie, "we need willpower."
"What is willpower?" asked Toad.
"Willpower is trying hard not to do something you really want to do," said Frog.
"You mean like trying hard not to eat all these cookies?" asked Toad.
"Right," said Frog.
Frog put the cookies in a box. "There," he said. "Now we will not eat any more cookies."
"But we can open the box," said Toad.
"That is true," said Grog.
Frog tied some string around the box. "There," he said. "Now we will not eat any more cookies."
"But we can cut the string and open the box." said Toad.
"That is true," said Frog. Frog got a ladder. He put the box up on a high shelf.
"There," said Frog. "Now we will not eat any more cookies."
"But we can climb the ladder and take the box down from the shelf and cut the string and open the box," said Toad.
"That is true," said Frog.
Frog climbed the ladder and took the box down from the shelf. He cut the string and opened the box. Frog took the box outside. He shouted in a loud voice. "Hey, birds, here are cookies!" Birds came from everywhere. They picked up all the cookies in their beaks and flew away.
"Now we have no more cookies to eat," said Toad sadly.
"Not even one."
"Yes," said Frog, "but we have lots and lots of willpower."
"You may keep it all, Frog," said Toad. "I am going home now to bake a cake."
Somehow I can sympathize with Toad. This kids story reminds us that it takes more than just will power it takes the power of the Gospel with the Savior of all Nations.
REMEMBER that sin ALWAYS takes us FARTHER than we want to go, keeps us LONGER than we want to stay, & COSTS us more than we are willing to pay! Listen, Jesus died for your sins and you don’t have to fall to temptation anymore. In fact, as long as you’re in Christ sin no longer has dominion over you. Christ died for your sins. He took the penalty of death so that you may live and you can trust him because he rose from the dead. only a risen living Saviour King can breathe life into where there was only death. Let’s Pray!