Lead Us Not Into Temptation

James 1:12–18 ESV

12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 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.

I came across a TV show a while back called “Bait Car”. I couldn’t stop watching it. The police would take a car and leave it in a high crime area and then sit back and watch. Eventually the temptation was too great for someone and they would come over and check it out. And more often than not you could hear them as they were tempted to steal it. My favorite was when a friend would say, “Looks like one of them bait cars the police use, don’t do it.” But they would any way. Then the fun would start. The engine would die, the doors would lock and they were stuck. Invariably you would hear them say, “I knew I shouldn’t have taken this.”

Temptation is that way. It slowly lulls us to sleep and before we know it we find ourselves in a situation we can’t imagine and we are left wondering how we got there. We never planned on ending up there.

This morning, James shifts from talking about outside trials and tests in our lives to addressing temptations, those internal struggles we all have. When we left off last week James told us:

James 1:12 ESV

12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

Blessings come to those who stand strong in trials. And what we will see today is we are also blessed when we resist temptations. A wrong responses to temptations, just like trials, will stunt our spiritual growth and keep us from blessings.

Trials and temptations are often grouped together, but we need to understand the difference between the two. James helps us with this as he looks at the:

Source of Temptation

Trials/tests may come from God but,

Temptation Does Not Come From God

James 1:13–14 ESV

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.

It is easy to dismiss our responsibility in temptation if we can say it comes from God. If I am tempted by God, then it must be God’s fault if I fall to temptation. Does that make sense? If God hadn’t tempted me, I would never have gotten into this mess.

James nips this right in the bud. Don’t you say God is tempting me. God cannot be tempted by evil. There is nothing Satan can do to tempt God. And God does not tempt people. He may test, but He will not tempt.

A test is meant to check you and let you know what you are capable. A test is not meant to lead you to sin. Think of this in parental terms. Would you as a parent, deliberately set your child up for failure? Would you take delight in seeing your child give in to temptation? No, you would normally do everything within in your power to keep that from happening. You keep your child away from kids who are bad influences, who might tempt them. You don’t let them go places where they may get into trouble. You don’t want them to be tempted.

God, because He is a good father, does not test His children. He will try them but not tempt them to evil.

So, if God does not tempt, where does it come from? Again, it is easy to blame someone else. Do you remember the comedian, Flip Wilson? The Devil Made Me Do It! We have heard this before and we may have even said it. The Devil can’t MAKE you do it. It is like the bait car, no one makes them steal it, but they make the decision to.

The real source of temptation comes from within each of us. it comes from our own evil desires and thoughts. Our own thoughts are what tempt us. Now, I think we get some help in getting those thoughts started. James says our thoughts draw us out, like a fish from its hiding hole. And then James says we are snared in them. Do you see what happens? We both build and bait our own trap.

This happens in increments. There are:

Steps in Temptation

James 1:15–16 ESV

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.

James uses this biological picture of birth to explain the steps in temptation.

Our Desires Are Conceived In Our Minds

and just like a baby who has been conceived they grow right there in place. And once they have grown big enough they are born.

When our lusts or desires are born,

Then Sin is Born.

We need to stop and think for a minute, Who the father of this desire is. Satan is the father of our evil desires. He is the one who tempts us and plants the seeds. But we still have a responsibility in this. We are the ones who water the seeds and help them to grow. If we don’t feed them they die.

But we think we can entertain evil thoughts and not be affected by them. but the more we think about them, the more they grow and then we give birth to them by putting our thoughts into action.

That is how sin is born. We think about it and then we do it. And once sin is born it brings death. The wages of sin is death. We don’t think about sin bringing death, but it has always been that way. From Adam and Eve’s first sin to the ones we commit today. Sin leads us to death and separation from God.

We are deceived when we think anything else. James warns us not to be deceived or led astray. Satan and people in our society will try to convince us this is not true. It’s just a little sin. Who is it really hurting. It hurts us and it hurts our relationship with God.

James has shown us that a good response in trials can lead us to spiritual growth and a wrong response to temptation will lead us to spiritual poverty and death.

But, thankfully, God does not leave to face sin on our own. God always gives us hope. And James shows us this as he talks about a:

Solution For Temptation

If we understand the source of temptation and the the steps of how temptation works then we know we need a solution so that we do not fall to temptation.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary Outline

C. Resist in deadly temptation (1:13–18)

1. Source of temptation (1:13–14)

2. Steps in temptation (1:15–16)

3. Solution for temptation (1:17–18)

James 1:17–18 ESV

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.

James moves from talking about the grim reality of sin and death to God’s heavenly gifts that bring light and hope. In contrast to the evil of our desires and sin, James reminds us that everything good comes from the Father of lights. God created the lights in the heavens and all of the universe and we can count on His goodness. The sun which shines on us comes from the Father above, The rain which brings life to us and the plants comes from the Father above. Jesus told His followers that God clothes the flowers and feeds the birds. If he will do this for them how much more will he do for his children? God is consistent in what He does. If has always taken care of His people He will continue to do the same for us.

We can rest in the unchangeable light and goodness of God. We can trust God and His Word. James says “He has brought us forth by the word of truth.”

The Word of Truth is What Saves Us.

So what is this word of truth? Look at:

Ephesians 1:13 ESV

13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

Colossians 1:5 ESV

5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel,

The Gospel is the Word of Truth.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is what saves us. The good news that Jesus died to take our sin upon him and rose from the dead so that we could have eternal life is what saves us. The word of truth takes away the death of sin. That is a great solution to our evil thoughts and the sin which is born from them.

Believers are considered as firstfruits. The choice pick of the crop. We don’t have to yield temptation and if we do we don’t have to live in our sin and even more important, we don’t have to die in our sin.

As believers, we can grow to be like our Father.