Faith that Works: Resisiting the attractiveness and impulse of sin

Ulrich Zwingli

Ulrich Zwingli was one of the fathers of the protestant reformation, with the likes of Martin Luther and John Calvin. The reformation was a movement of people who rebelled against the Catholic Church in the early 1500’s. Reformation Day, October 31, 1517, is the day Martin Luther nailed his 95 thesis on the door of All Saints Church in Wittenburg, Germany. His 95 thesis was an objection to Catholic church practices such as the sale of indulgences. Ulrich Zwingli, six years later, wrote out 67 thesis, beginning with this statement,

“All who say that the gospel is invalid without the confirmation of the church err and slander God.” Ulrich Zwingli

This was a declaration of independence in the Catholic churches eyes. Zwingli was a strong student of the scriptures and advocated that the word of God was the ultimate authority. Once again, this put him at odds with Catholic doctrines such as communion, marriage of priests, and mandatory fasting during lent. Soon, the Catholic church saw him a threat just as they saw Luther and Calvin as a threat, and Zwingli quickly found himself in a fight with one of the most powerful institutions on earth at the time, the Catholic Church.

At one point, the Pope Leo the X, was advised to excommunicate Martin Luther. Ulrich Zwingli boldly sought the ear of the Papal Legate to try to convince him not to excommunicate Luther. He gives his account in a letter to a friend. He says,

“Within a few days I will go to the papal Legate [Pucci], and if he shall open a conversation on the subject as he did before, I will urge him to warn the Pope not to issue an excommunication [against Luther], for which I think would be greatly against him [the Pope]. For if it be issued I believe the Germans will equally despise the Pope and the excommunication.

But do you be of good cheer, for our day will not lack those who will teach Christ faithfully, and who will give up their lives for Him willingly, even though among men their names shall not be in good repute after this life…So far as I am concerned I look for all evil from all of them: I mean both ecclesiastics and laymen.” Ulrich Zwingli

He expects to evil to come upon him. He assumes the meeting will lead to his own excommunication from the church. He is aware he is entering into a season of suffering for Jesus, a trial, a testing of his faith as Jame describes in James 1:2-3.

Human nature would not fault Zwingli for being upset at his circumstances. If Zwingli lived in our day, he might even be encouraged to be angry with God, even blame God, as if God himself was tempting him. Follow the logic. If God is sovereign and God is the one who brings or ordains trials in your life to test your faith, couldn’t he bear the responsibility of tempting you? God designed the trial for Abraham to sacrifice his son (Gen 22:1). God tested Israel by leaving them surrounded by pagan nations (Judges 2:22). God designed these tests for Abraham and Israel to see if they will walk in the way of the Lord. When Israel failed to walk in the way of the Lord, was God to blame for it? When you fail to endure under trial, is God to blame for it?

James anticipates this problem. He is well aware of suffering and persecution. He knows the way of trials and tribulations, and knows that the human heart, in its sinful condition, will desire to shake its fist at God, and even indict Him for such evil. I am reminded of Job’s wife's words to him when they hear that they’ve lost everything; health, wealth, and their children;

Job 2:9 (ESV)

“Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.”

Trials have a way of running your faith thin. James says to you and I this morning although God uses trials to test your faith, he does not entice you to sin. Instead, our unchanging God who is sovereign over all creation and sustains it with his perfect nature and power, actually gives you good and perfect gifts to help you endure, to receive the crown of life. In other words,

Christian, endure your trial faithfully knowing that God does not entice you to sin, but instead gives you good gifts, especially the gift of eternal life.

As we have already seen, we know God designs trials for our maturity in verse 2-4. His main goal is to conform us into the image of His Son (Romans 8:28-29). God promises to give wisdom for the trial generously to anyone who asks by faith(James 1:5-8). By anyone, James means the rich and the poor, and everyone who falls in between them are welcome to ask for wisdom (James 1:9-11). God will give the crown of life, the resurrection life, to everyone who faithfully endures until the end (James 1:12).

In the midst of a trial, however, some will be tempted to think that God is enticing them to sin with trials, and they will blame God for it.

Consider for a moment how financial hardship may tempt you to question God’s providence in your life. The loss of a loved one tempts you to question God’s love for you. Watching the wicked prevail as the poor and the weak suffer at their hands, may tempt you to question God’s justice. These trials bring with them a temptation to question God. Is God tempting you to sin when he brings suffering into your life? James says absolutely not. He explains why in James 1:13-15.

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.

God cannot tempt you to sin because God’s nature has no impulse toward sin.

God cannot be tempted to sin. Dr. Robert Plummer translated the passive verbal adjective as “untemptable.” That is He is “unable to be tempted.” Why is he unable to be tempted? Temptation is an impulse toward sin. God does not have an impulse toward sin. Evil is not desirable to God, in the same way cow manure is not desirable to people. Listen to how the bible describes how God sees sin and wickedness. David says,

Psalm 5:4 ESV

For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.

and the prophet Habakkuk 1:13

Habakkuk 1:13 (ESV)

You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong...

The bible says that God hates the effects of sin, like idolatry (Deut 12:31; 16:22), child sacrifice, sexual perversion (Lev 20:1-23). The Bible even says God hates those who do evil Psalm 11:5

Psalm 11:5 ESV

The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.

Proverbs 6:16-19, lists seven things the Lord hates, pride, lying, murder, evil plots, liars, and troublemakers. All of these things are the effects of sin, and God is repulsed by everyone of them.

Furthermore, the logic goes, if God has no impulse toward sin, then he cannot tempt anyone to sin. He has no desire to see any man, woman, or child, sin. Theologian Sophie Laws rightly says,

“What must be understood is that temptation is an impulse to sin, and since God is not susceptible to any such desire for evil he cannot be seen as desiring that it be brought about in man.” Sophie Laws

You have no grounds to blame God for your sinful response to trials. Wisdom says that when you heart is tempted to blame God for your sinful response to trials, you must remember that God himself is “untemptable” and in turn tempts no one.

Puritan John Owen has some incredible wisdom about temptation. He says,

“Temptations and occasions put nothing into a man, but only draw out what was in him before.” John Owen

There is no sin to draw out of God. But you, however, are a different story. If you are inclined to blame God for your sinful response to his designed trials in your life, the trial is not putting that rebellion into your heart. The trial is exposing the rebellion that is already there. Is it possible, friend, that God is has given your a trial to draw out your rebellious unbelief from your heart? If that is so, isn't that loving of God? He could look at your rebellious unbelief and let you perish. Instead, he loving designs a trial to draw it out of you and grant you faith, saving faith.

If you have been angry with God because of a trial, repent of your anger. It has no place in your relationship with him. If God is all-wise, all-knowing, all-powerful, and good, how can any of his decisions for your life be misguided or detrimental to you? If I were in charge of your life, you would have plenty of reason to be upset. I’m weak and extremely limited. But God is not like us. He is never frustrated and works everything for your good, even things that seem crazy to you. He hates evil and will never entice you to be evil. God is good to you and his love endures forever for you. Jesus made sure of that. If you want to know where temptation comes from, James explains, it come from within you.

God cannot tempt you because sin comes from within you.

There is an old adage used when someone does something wrong, “The devil made me do it.” There are some in the church who are convinced that Satan is the one who causes them to sin. Though Satan is a force of evil in this world fr sure, James says the source of temptation comes from your heart. You have an impulse toward sin, and James uses two metaphors to help explain it to you. But first, you must see that,

Your heart is inclined toward evil.

James 1:14 ESV

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

You are lured and enticed by your own desire. The word for desire denotes the idea of craving, or lusts. Jesus spoke of these cravings in the parable of the soils. Desires refer to the other things of the world that enter your heart and choke out the word (Mark 4:19). Jesus also said of the Pharisees that their desires were for their father the devil (John 8:44). Paul warns not to make provisions for the flesh, to gratify its desires (Romans 13:14). James uses this word to denote an innate tendency toward sin. Every human heart is sinful (Romans 3:23). The heart is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9-10). Jesus says

Matthew 15:18–20 (ESV)

But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

These are what defile a person...

Your sin does not come from Satan. Your sin comes from you. It is inside of you. Your heart has an impulse toward sin. And when temptation shows up, the will is more inclined to sin. John Calvin is spot on when he says,

“Though Satan instills his poison, and fans the flame of our corrupt desires within us, we are yet not carried by any external force to the commission of sin; but our own flesh entices us, and we willingly yield to its allurements.” John Calvin

This is why you need to say you are sorry when you sin against your brother or sister. God holds you responsible for your sin. You cannot blame Satan for your evil words or actions. Those are yours, and when you stand before God’s judgement, he will recount your sinful deeds if you are not in Jesus. It is your sinful words and actions that Jesus died for on the cross.

James uses the metaphors to convey, as Douglas Moo, says, the “mode of operation of the evil desire.” Temptation arises when a person is dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. The word “enticed” spurs the metaphor of fishing.

Last night Abram and I went fishing. I taught him how to fly fish this year. What I love about fly fishing is the art of deception. Fly fishing uses bait that looks like insects at different stages of their development. A good fly fisherman will know the inspects of the area he is fishing and the season he is fishing in, so that he can drop the right fly to entice the fish to eat it. Productive flies look and mimic the insect so that when the fish sees it, it is fooled, even compelled to strike it. The whole thing is about the art of deception. Last night we first tried worms on a casting rod with no luck. Once we hit the fly rod, the fish wouldn’t stop hitting our bait. And iso t is with temptation and sin.

Your will is lured, enticed like a fish eyeing the bait on a hook, with temptation. Once it is hooked, your heart is dragged away into sin. There is no catch and release. You are trapped like an animal, and ready for slaughter. The enticement seems persistent and creative because your heart is multifaceted, complex, dynamic, and deceived with sin. James shits gears to further explain his point.

Sin has a reproductive process.

James describes the effect that evil desire can have on your spiritual life. James 1:15

James 1:15 ESV

Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Like a woman who conceives and gives birth to a baby, so lusts, or evil desires conceives and gives birth to sin.

The issue here is that lust seduces the human will. Follow the reproductive process. Your heart is inclined toward evil. Temptation makes sin look attractive, hence the seduction. Your welcomed response to the temptation conceives, and if you do not resist it immediately, it will give brith to sin.

James is not saying that temptation in and of itself is sinful. Sin is birthed when you give into temptation, only when desire is able to conceive and produce offspring.

Some of you may feel overwhelmed by the flood of temptations you experience on an ongoing basis. You may feel so overwhelmed that you think that you are out of fellowship with the Lord. Your heart reckons that temptation is some how equated with sin. That is not the case.

Temptation is par for the Christian life in a Genesis three world. Temptation was part of Jesus’ experience on earth.

Hebrews 2:18 ESV

For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Jesus never sinned. He never had an impulse toward sin, but he was tempted like you, which is another reason why he can sympathize with you. Furthermore, as you grow in resisting temptation, you grow in maturity. Douglas Moo is helpful in connecting the dots between temptation and maturity. He says,

“Christian maturity is not indicated by the infrequency of temptation but by the infrequency of succumbing to temptation.” Douglas Moo

James’ point with this metaphor is to help you see the danger in giving in to temptation in the midst of trials. Do not give in to the lie that God is against you. Do not allow your heart to give in to the temptation to believe that God is enticing you with trials like a bait on a hook to lead you into unbelief. God is for you, not against you. He proved that to you. How?

Romans 8:32 (ESV)

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all...

Romans 8:34–35 (ESV)

Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us....now nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.

God demonstrated his love for you that while you were a sinner, a sinner with a heart that has an impulse toward sin, Christ died for you. Jesus died to make you holy, spotless, and without blemish, just like himself.

Furthermore, if you have accepted his free gift of salvation, Jesus has given you a new heart and the power of his Spirit to resit temptation and flee from it. He has also given you his word as a means to fight the impulse toward sin and the attractiveness of temptation. You can say with David,

Psalm 119:10–11 ESV

With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Friend, your impulse toward sin is going to lead you to hell, where God’s wrath is experienced for all eternity. You need his forgiveness, and he is willing to give it to you. His impulse is toward grace and mercy. Have you accepted Jesus as your Savior? Does he live in your heart? God promises that take your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. He can change your impulses toward sin. He can give you the power to say no to them and yes to his holiness.

I can see why Ulrich Zwingli was such an advocate for the authority of God’s word. He valued God’s word much that he assisted in the publican of the Zuricher Bible (1529), one of the earliest translations into the German language. He wanted Germans to have God’s word to hide in their heart, to help them resist temptation, especially under the trial of persecution by the Catholic Church.

In his letter to his friend, explaining his intentions to defend Martin Luther to Pope Leo the X, knowing he would be persecuted himself, he wrote,

300 Quotations for Preachers from the Reformation Asking Christ for Endurance

I ask Christ for this one thing only, that He will enable me to endure all things courageously, and that He break me as a potter’s vessel or make me strong, as it pleases Him.

Instead of being seduced by sinful unbelief in God’s sovereign goodness, Zwingli was enticed by the love and obedience of His Savior, Jesus Christ. He did not fall away from Jesus, he used the opportunity of trial to fall into Jesus.

Next week, Lord willing, James will will finish sins reproductive process and see how God is the invariable good gift giver.