James 1:13-18

Introduction

Good morning church family!Today we are continuing our journey through the book of James. The main theme of the book of James is receiving wisdom from God's Word. Wisdom from God results in a life that bears fruit. Wisdom from God's Word that affects every area of life and results in a life the is fruitful and thrives even in the face of trials. I encourage you to take time over the next few weeks or so to read the entire book of five chapters.Please stand together as we read God's Word.

James 1:13-18 "13 No one is to say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it has run its course, brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters. 17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. 18 In the exercise of His will He gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures."

Prayer

The Word of God is much more than instructions on how to live life. It is more than following a bunch of rules and regulations. The Word of God reveals to us who Jesus is, who we are, and how we ought to allow that relationship to change who we are.

The Word of God will encourage you, but it will also challenge you. More importantly, if you allow it, it will change you.

One of the goals of Christianity is not to just read the Word of God of study it, but apply it to our lives.

2 Corinthians 5:17 "17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."

As we grow in the grace and knowledge of who Jesus is, we find out who we really are, and who Christ wants us to be. At some point, change must take place in our lives. A change not on the outside, but a change on the inside.

The change on the outside doesn't happen until there is a change on the inside. Too often in the church world we want people to stop cussing, stop drinking, stop dressing this way, stop thinking that way, do this or do that, before they come into the church.

None of these things will not happen until a change happens in the inside! When this happens, you will begin to have:

A new way of thinking - about yourself and othersA new way of responding - to situations, actions of othersA new way of living out your life by the new choices you are making

As we follow Christ, at some point our hearts become grieved because of the current state we are in as the Word of God illuminates these areas in our lives that God wants to change. It is at that point we have to make a conscience decision whether or not to follow Christ as He illuminates our path.

When we choose Christ, we always choose life

The opposite of life is death. If you read the Scriptures, you will quickly find that God doesn't deal with right and wrong, but He deals with life and death.

Let's jump into our study on James.

Your Flesh is the Enemy

A lot of the times it is not the enemy who is trying to bring death into your life, it is you.

James 1:13-14 "13 No one is to say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. "

All too often we are looking for evil in all kinds of things: music, movies, other people, but we never talk about our own evilness.

I think we talk about other kinds of evil and not our own because it easier to shift the blame on others rather than take the responsibility of our own actions. In 2022 we are doing the exact same thing that Adam did in the Garden...we shift blame.

When in fact it is your very own flesh.

How does your flesh do this?

James 1:14 "14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust."

Your very own flesh, that is the sin nature, is what you must battle with. Your own lusts, your own desires, goes against the very nature of God. You are carried away and enticed by your own flesh.

These words that James uses are not by accident. The words carried away and enticed are used in the context of hunting and fishing. It describes attracting a fish with a lure or enticing an animal to enter into a trap.

I used to go fishing with my mom growing up and I would use a rubber worm. I didn't like messing with real worms because they were messy and wiggly. So I used a rubber worm and some spray that was supposed to attract a specific type of fish...large mouth bass.

My mom always used real bait and I remember one particular day on a lake in Michigan where we would camp that I must have caught about 6 or 7 large mouth while my mom didn't catch a thing.

Just like the enemy knows how to lure you, so does your own flesh. There are desires or lusts that reside on the inside of you within your sin nature.

Question: How many of you desire to do the Godly thing? How many of you often choose not to do the Godly thing?

You're in good company. I struggle with that too. We all do. With this down:

ALL Christians struggle

As Christians, we all struggle with this on a daily basis. It doesn't make you a bad person. It doesn't make you ungodly. It simply makes you human. You need to know that.

The Apostle Paul, super Christian, the one who made it into the Scriptures and even wrote almost half of the New Testament, struggled.

Listen to his own words.

Romans 7:18-20 "18 For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I do the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me."

So you are in good company today. We all struggle.

Tell two people next to you, "I struggle".

Thank God there is a solution to this problem. Paul actually gives us the solution as he writes:

Romans 7:24-25a "24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

It is because of what Christ did on the cross that I can choose not to give into the desires of the flesh. I can choose not to fall for the traps and snares set by not only the devil, by myself.

I encourage you to continue to not only read James, but also in Romans. In chapter 8, Paul reminds us that through the forgiveness of Christ we are freed from eternal condemnation (v.1). Then by the strength of the indwelling Spirit we are empowered to do God’s will. Which means I now have the ability to not give into the temptation of my flesh!

Romans 8:12-13 "12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh - 13 for if you are living in accord with the flesh, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live."

Because of Christ crucified and resurrected, I am under no obligation to the flesh! I am however, obligated to the Spirit.

Grace Window

The funny thing about obligation is, it is a choice we make whether or not we follow through with it. Not only does God deal with life and death, but He leaves that choice up to you and me.

We choose whether or not to have life.

But here is what we need to understand about this obligation. It is a moral and legal term that is binding.

Obligation - an act or course of action to which a person is morally or legally bound; a duty or commitment

We are morally bound in the sense that Jesus died for us and there is no way to pay that debt back other than by living our lives for God by applying His Word to our lives. We are legally bound in the sense that there is going to be a day of judgement and every person whether they are Christians or not, will stand before the judgement seat of God and He will judge accordingly to His perfect Law.

We are free from the obligation of our flesh, but as Christians we are now bound by our obligation to the Spirit. Again it is our choice.

What happens if I choose to continue to remain in my sin? I find James' words interesting.

James 1:15 "15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it has run its course, brings forth death."

When lust has conceived, when you fall for the trap, it gives birth to sin. Sin is now alive and active.

But James says something interesting. Notice he says, "when it has run its course". Some translations says, "when it is grown". According to the Greek it is described as "when it comes to maturity".

It seems as though James is saying that sin has some sort of life span. It is conceived. A seed is planted. This would be the enticement. This is the lure. When you fall for the lure, it is then born. You actually commit the sin.

But here is where something happens. He says, "when it has run its course" or "when it has matured".

It's as if James is saying sin is conceived, born, and then grows up. Almost like a child is conceived, then born, and grows up. Sin also has some sort of growth process to it.

It is the part of the process where "when it has run its course" or "when it has grown up", then it brings forth death.

Every word that is written in the Word is written on purpose and for a purpose. If we blow by this we will miss what James is saying here that I believe is vital to our walk with God.

There are many who believe that God is some mean little kid with a magnifying glass and we are the ants and He is just waiting for an opportunity to burn us alive when the sun gets in the right position. The almighty smiter!

Because we serve a just God, true justice will be served on all humanity at some point, but...our God is not just a God of judgement, but He is also a God of grace and mercy.

I believe what James is trying to say to us is this: God will give you a grace window when you mess up. (sin means "miss the mark")

This doesn't mean you can continue to sin to obtain this grace. You cheapen the grace of God if you do this. Paul addresses this as well when he said,

Romans 6:1-2 "1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 Far from it! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?"

We don't continue to live in sin, just to receive more grace.

What I am trying to say is, God will give you some time before that sin will bring forth it's ultimate goal for your life - death.

God's grace window is this - Time to repent.

How much time? That I do not know. I am not God. But I see it in the Scriptures.

I see it in the Garden of Eden when God was looking for Adam after he and his wife Eve ate of the one tree they were commanded not to partake from. Because of their sin Adam and Eve hid in shame. God went looking for Adam and asked him a question:

Genesis 3:9 "9 Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”

God being an all knowing all seeing God, I cannot believe that God was asking Adam where was his location physically. I believe God was asking where are you Adam...spiritually. I believe God was giving Adam some grace to confess what had taken place.

Adam being a man and doing what men do, shifted the blame..."The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me some of the fruit of the tree, and I ate."

Not a good choice of words. Adam wasn't being a man. Adam was being a coward.

Men, when you mess up, you need to own it. You need to take responsibility for your own actions. Stop shifting the blame on others.

So God goes to Eve and showed the same amount of grace and asked her what happened. Her response: "The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

She too was being a coward. Shifted the blame on the devil. But it wasn't the devils fault. Women, when you mess up, you need to own it. Stop shifting the blame on others.

Adam and Eve both gave into the flesh!

Have you ever asked yourself the question, "What if Adam and Eve had confessed?"

I believe God would have shown mercy, and they would have remained in the Garden that day. But that wasn't the case. Not only did a spiritual death happen, but we find the first account of blood shed when God covered them with the hide of an animal. God deals with Life and death.

Paul tells us in Romans:

Romans 6:23a "23 For the wages of sin is death..."

But here is a thought, when are wages paid? Wages are paid when the job is complete.

Go back to James 1.

James 1:15 "15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it has run its course, brings forth death."

When. Key word there. When it has run its course. When it comes to maturity. When it has fully grown. Then it brings forth death.

When. This tells me it can be stopped.

Deny & Crucify Yourself

So the question now is, how do I stop sin from running its course in my life? Or better yet, how can I stop sin from even being born in the first place?

Luke 9:23 "23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me."

As I mentioned in the beginning of the message, God deals with life and death. The way we overcome the sin in our lives to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and then follow Christ.

Denying one self and taking up your cross are not the same.

Deny - in the New Testament it is the intentional disassociation from relationship with a particular person. Another way to make this statement, might be to “disown” or “renounce.”

This is the same word used when Peter "denied" Jesus. He denies that he knows Jesus or has any association with him.

This denial that Jesus is calling us too is an intentional disowning of self or to put it more simply - stepping away from self as primary allegiance. Where does my allegiance lie, with Jesus or myself?

Cross - "Crucifixion was reserved specifically for offenders who had rebelled against authority. To “take up one’s cross” referred to the practice of forcing a condemned person to carry the cross beam to his execution site. This showed that although he had rebelled against authority, the condemned person was now so completely conquered that his last act in life would be to carry the instrument of his demise to the place of his death.

It was a show of complete and utter submission. A call to bear one’s cross as part of following Jesus, then, is a call to be as submitted to Christ as the condemned criminal was to his death."

- Christy Gambrell (MA in exegetical theology and an MA in counseling from Covenant Theological Seminary)

So when Jesus calls for self-denial and cross-bearing, he’s claiming authority. Following Christ means disowning self and giving allegiance to Jesus instead. And it means giving Jesus allegiance down to the very depths of our being.

When we deny ourselves and pick up our cross, then we follow Christ. We cannot follow Christ without denial of self and crucifying our flesh.

It is in the denial and death of self that we find life, not only life, but freedom.

The life cycle of sin will ultimately bring death, but the death of one's self for the sake of Christ will bring LIFE.

Some of you all are not living because you haven't died yet.

Freedom in Truth

Go back to James 1. I want to show you one last thing.

James 1:16-18 "16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters. 17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. 18 In the exercise of His will He gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures."

Again James is speaking of a birth, but this birth is not of sin, but a birth by the Word of truth. A new birth for us. Born again. A new you. It is in this truth, that you and I can find freedom from sin.

Listen to what Jesus said to the Jews that believed.

John 8:31-32 "31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Altar Call

Let's put the Word to action.

We need to deal with our sin.We need to confess it and then repent of it.You are right now in the grace window of GodIt is time to deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow Christ.