Sermons

James: A Letter from Jesus’ Brother
Temptation -- James 1:13-18

When you think about the world and your heart, you can see that there’s something strange going on.  Here’s what I mean: the Bible teaches that God has shown us who He is by creating us, giving us the infinitely precious gift of life, giving us amazing bodies, placing us in a beautiful world with oceans and clouds and sunsets and apricots and cheese and snow, and place this beautiful world in the midst of a spectacular universe. 

And God did this so that we could see who He is -- that He is infinitely powerful, flawlessly wise, so full of love and goodness that compared to everything else that exists – it’s clear that He alone is our all-satisfying Treasure.

But what’s strange is that even though God is our all-satisfying Treasure – we find our hearts being pulled away from God to other things.

Picture a tug-of-war.  You are holding onto this rope; over here is God as He’s revealed in Jesus: forgiving, all-powerful, wise – our all-satisfying Treasure.  And over here is distance from God – emptiness, misery, lack of satisfaction.  But still we find ourselves being pulled away from God.

Take me, for example.  I know that my highest joy is in glorifying Jesus.  But much of the time I find that instead of being pulled to glorify Jesus, I am pulled towards glorifying myself – towards wanting people to glorify me, and notice me, and make much of me.

That’s one of my issues.  Yours might be different.

Maybe you find yourself pulled towards worry instead of trust in God. 

Or pulled towards pornography instead of contentment in God.

Or pulled towards television more than hunger for God.

Or pulled towards bitterness instead of surrender to God.

Or pulled towards greed more than relying on God.

Can you feel how strange that is?  So why is there that pull?  Where does it come from?  What will that pull ultimately do to us?  And how can we overcome that pull?  To answer those questions, let’s turn to James chapter one.  If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand and we’ll bring a Bible to you.  James 1 is on page 1011 in the Bibles we are passing out.

The book of James is a letter written by James, who was a major leader in the Jerusalem church.  A terrible persecution had arisen against followers of Jesus, and many fled to northern Palestine and Syria, probably with only what they could carry in their hands.  And James writes this letter to them to strengthen them in trusting Jesus.

And in vv.2-12 we have seen how James starts by seeking to strengthen them in trusting Jesus during this time of great difficulty.  In vv.2-4 he tells them why they can see these trials as all joy; in vv.5-8 he tells them that if they will ask God, he will give them all the wisdom they need for responding to this trial; and in vv.9-12 he helps them understand that their loss of social status means nothing – what matters is following Jesus.

But then in vv.13-18 he addresses a deception many of them are succumbing to during this time of trial.  Let’s read these verses –

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.

So what deception are they facing?  You can see in v.16 that they are being deceived, since James says “do not be deceived.”  And we can see what the deception is in the beginning of v.13 --

Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God”…

They were in a time of severe trial.  Like I said, they had fled from their homes with probably just what they could carry in their hands.  And every trial brings with it a slew of temptations.  So they are facing severe temptation – they were facing a severe pull away from God.

Think of the pulls they could have experienced – the pull away from Jesus to despair about their future; the pull away from Jesus to anger against their persecutors; the pull away from Jesus to wanting to be quiet about their faith so no more persecution would come.

But the problem was that they misunderstood where these pulls came from.  They thought these pulls came from God.  They thought they were being tempted by God.  They thought it was God who was luring and enticing them away from Himself.

Have you ever thought that?  Have you ever felt inside of you a pull away from God – and thought that maybe God Himself was tempting you – pulling you away from Him to see what you would do?

But there’s a problem.  If you are in a tug of war facing someone infinitely stronger than you – how long will you keep resisting?  Not long.  That’s why James is so direct in correcting them: ‘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.

So when you are tempted, when you feel yourself being pulled away from God, it’s not because God is tempting you.  If you think that then you misunderstand God.  God can’t be pulling you away from Him towards gossip, or towards prayerlessness, or towards greed, because that would mean that God is doing evil.  But like James says – God cannot be tempted with evil.  And since God is not tempted with evil, he himself tempts no one.

So where do temptations come from?  Look at what James says in v.14 --

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

So when you are tempted, what’s pulling you away from Jesus is your own desire.  Your own heart is pulling you away from Jesus towards gossip.  Your own heart is pulling you away from Jesus towards pride.  What’s pulling you from Jesus is your own desire.  Your own heart.

But how can that be if God has saved you and given you a new heart?  That’s a good question.  It’s true that when God saved you He gave you a new heart – a heart that desired Jesus more than anything else.  Do you remember the first time you felt the love of Jesus?  Saw the glory of Jesus?  That’s what happened when God saved you, and the result was that more than anything we desire to know and trust Jesus Christ. 

But when God saved us He did not take away all of our sin.  He took away a lot of it – and He will continue taking it away until He finally removes it all at the end of our lives.  But for now we still have some sin remaining.  So mostly our hearts pull us towards Jesus.  But we still have times when our hearts pull us away from Jesus.

So that’s why we are tempted: it’s because our hearts are pulling us away from Jesus; our hearts desire something else more than Jesus.  This is a crucial truth for us to understand.

Many of us think the reason we are tempted is because of our circumstances.  So you could think that the reason you’re feeling a pull away from Jesus towards lustful thoughts is because your wife hasn’t been satisfying you sexually.  Now women, it is important that you seek to satisfy your husband sexually; and men, it is important that you seek to satisfy your wife sexually. 

But listen, men.  The reason you’re feeling a pull away from Jesus towards lustful thoughts is not because of your wife.  It’s because your own heart is pulling you from Jesus towards lustful thoughts.  The problem is not your wife.  It’s your own heart.

So when I am feeling the pull towards greed it’s because of my desires: I’m desiring a car or outfit or money more than I’m desiring God.  When I feel the pull towards self-pity it’s because of my desires: I’m desiring the satisfaction of self-pity more than the satisfaction of knowing God.  When I feel the pull towards drinking too much (moderation is OK, but not drinking too much) it’s because of my desires: I’m desiring the buzz of alcohol more than nearness with Jesus.

Then in v.15 James wants to help us understand just how serious it is to have our desires start to lure and entice us away from God, so let’s ask: how serious is temptation?  Read vv.14-15 --

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.

Let’s say you’re a guy at Starbucks and a beautiful woman walks in – and you notice her.  At that moment you feel a pull away from God towards sexual thoughts.  But there’s no sin yet.  At that point you can cry out to Jesus to help you, set your heart on the superior satisfaction of knowing God, remind yourself of the covenant you made to be faithful to your wife in your thoughts -- and there’s been no sin.

But what if you don’t do that?  That’s the beginning of v.15 –

Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin …

The first flaring up of desire isn’t sin.  But if you let that desire grow in your heart, it will conceive and give birth to sin.  So at this point you’ve turned from Jesus; you’re engaged in lustful thoughts; you’ve sinned.

But all is not lost.  Because of Jesus’ death on the Cross, you can turn to Him and confess this sin, and He will completely forgive you.  And as you set your heart on who He is, and cry out to Him to change your heart, He will free you so you desire Him more than lust.

But what if you don’t confess and repent?  That sin will grow -- and the result is serious.  Read all of v.15 –

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

If you let those desires conceive and give birth to sin – and you never confess and repent, that sin will continue to grow.  It could grow into a pattern of sexual lust; it could grow into an affair; it could grow into a cold heart towards Jesus.  It will grow.  If sin is not confessed – it will grow.

If there’s no confession and repentance, that sin will grow until it is full-grown, and when it is full-grown it brings forth death -- eternal spiritual death.  Not because you lost your salvation.  But because your lack of repentance would show that you never had salvation.

That’s why temptation is so serious.  Because if you let it go, it will lead to sin, and if you continue to let it go, it will lead to eternal death.  So how can we avoid sin and death?  James gives us two steps in vv. 16-18.

First, don’t think God is the one pulling you away – v.16 –

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

Do not be deceived about the temptation.  If you feel the pull of desire for something else more than God, and you think God is the one pulling you from Him – you’ll probably give up.  How can you out-pull God?  So don’t be deceived – the pull is not coming from God – it’s coming from you.

Then second, set your heart on God’s passionate, perfect, and constant goodness towards us in Christ Jesus.  That’s v.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.

Most commentators think James is quoting from a Jewish poem that was popular at the time – and that he adapts it a little to make his point.  That’s why it’s a little hard to understand.  But let’s read it slowly and see if we can’t figure it out.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” – so God gives good and perfect gifts.  God doesn’t just sit up in heaven watching; no – because of Jesus God loves to give us good and perfect gifts. 

Not only that – keep reading – he is “the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”  So God never changes.  Think of what that means.  If you are trusting Jesus, then God is always longing to give you good and perfect gifts.  He’s never grumpy.  He’s never moody.  He’s always moving towards you with good and perfect gifts.

And then in v.18 James gives us an example of the kind of good and perfect gift God gives --

Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

If you are trusting Jesus, then this is an example of God’s good and perfect gifts.  “Of his own will” – this is something no one had to force God to do; this is something that flowed from God’s own heart. 

And what flowed from God’s own heart?  “He brought us forth by the word of truth.”  If you are trusting Jesus today, it’s because at one point God looked down upon you in your sin, and instead of judging and punishing you, He set His affection on you – you!  He chose to love you and care for you.  And so He took out your hard heart and gave you a soft heart which repented of your sin and trusted and loved Jesus.  And the result?

Keep reading: “that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”  God looked down on humanity and saw that all of us were rebelling against Him, deserving only judgment.  But through Jesus God chose to form a new humanity – to save a vast number of men and women that no one could count so they could display the glory of His mercy forever and ever.  And if today you are trusting Jesus, then you are a kind of firstfruits of this vast number.  Which means that God has lavished astonishing mercy, amazing compassion, mind-blowing love to you.

So what’s James’ point?  V.18 shows the kind of mercy, love, and compassion God has for you.  And v.17 shows that God does not change – which means He will never turn from His mercy, love, and compassion for you.

So when you are feeling your desires pull you away from God, stop, turn around, and look at God’s mercy, love, and compassion for you.  Listen – no temptation can stand up to that.  No temptation can compare with God’s mercy, love, and compassion in Jesus.  So as you look to Him, every temptation will lose its power, and you’ll be free.