Temptation Truth or Consequence

James 1:12-16

First Baptist Gantt

3-30-2005

We have established who James is.

The ½ brother of Christ

How to make Lemonade out of Lemons in Life

Where to Acquire Wisdom

Tonight Is:

Temptation Truth or Consequence

12Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. 16Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.

The old game show, truth or consequences.  This text would be a good set of rules for the show.  In our daily lives that is what we face Truth or Consequence.

All too often when we are tempted we say that God is tempting us.

V13

Shoots this out of the saddle immediately.

Do not blame God for temptation.

God is way too holy to be tempted and he is far too loving to tempt

God may be responsible for the circumstance but He will not tempt.

Abraham was faced with the Famine and on His own he was tempted to lie and flee to Egypt.  God did not tempt him but God may have been responsible for the circumstance.

It is not wrong to eat but if you consider stealing food you are tempting yourself.

That person may pull out in front of you.  God does not tempt you to make adverse signals or verbal comments about that person.

We as humans see sin as a single act in these verses we see that James points out our acts of sin in four stages.

·        Desire Verse 14

o   Some translations say Lust in this case the better translation is Desire.

o   Lust as we know it today is of the sexual nature.  The Greek word is far broader than that of Lust.

o   Without desires we could not function as a body.

§  Unless we felt hunger and thirst we would never eat and eventually we would die

§  Without the feeling of tiredness the body would never know to rest an eventually it would wear out.

§  Sex is a normal desire; without it the human race could not continue.

o   It is when we want to satisfy these desires in a way that God had not planned is when we get into trouble.

§  Eating is normal but Gluttony is a sin

§  Sleep is normal but laziness is sin

§  Hebrew 13:4                                 Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge

·        Deception in verse 14

o   The words drawn away carries the idea of baiting a trap.

o   The word enticed in the original Greek means to bait a hook

§  No prey will deliberately latch onto an un-baited hook or a trap that does not have bait in it.

§  Would Lot have gone the way of the lush green pastures if he had of known about the consequences of Sodom and Gomorra

§  Would David have looked upon His neighbor’s wife if he could have seen the consequences of the baited trap?

·        The death of a baby (Bathshebas son)

·        The murder of a brave soldier (Uriah)

·        The rape of his daughter (Tamar)

·        Disobedience verse 15 Here we go from a hunter or fisherman to that of a baby)

o   Christian living is a matter of the will not feelings

o   Children operate on the basis of feelings and adults operate on the basis of will

§  How many time have people not accepted Christ in disobedience because they say, “I don’t feel God” It is a matter of will to accept not feeling

o   This easily explains why new Christians fall into temptations.  They are following their feelings rather than God’s will.

§  This is why we must teach and train new Christians.

·        Death Verse 15

o   15b shows us that when desire starts a baby just conceived and grows to it’s fullest it brings death.

All four of these stages are a perfect picture of the first sin.

1.      The serpent used desire to tempt Eve (is there anything wrong with gaining Knowledge?)

2.    Eve’s deception Satan deceived Eve’s mind and the bait he used was the forbidden fruit

3.    Adam and Eve disobeyed by eating the forbidden fruit that they were told not to eat

4.    Both Adam and Eve experienced immediate spiritual death.  They tried to hide themselves from God and made the first veil between them and God (fig Leaf)