When I M Tempted James 1:13-16
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THE BOOK OF JAMES #6 WHEN I’M TEMPTED
DATE:
TEXT: James 1:13-16
INTRODUCTION:
As a young Christian, seeking to live for God, I was always troubled by the problem of temptation
I would encouraged myself with the thought that some day temptation would no longer be a problem
I imagined that as I grew in the Lord I would come to a place were I would be free of temptation
As the years passed I realized this wasn’t going to happen
But I have learned two basic realities:
1) Temptation was just as strong and subtle as it was years ago
2) That I’m just as weak as I was and just as prone to failure
What I learned should and must be learned by every believer
It doesn’t matters how long we have been saved, temptation is as strong as ever and we are as weak as we have ever been
I have a quote I came across that I think is excellent:
"Temptation plus opportunity equals trouble" When I’m Tempted – James 1:13-16
A person may be tempted to commit a certain sin but not have the opportunity to fulfill their temptation
On the other hand, a person may have opportunity to commit a certain sin but not be tempted
It is when the two get together that you have trouble
In our text James speaks of temptation and the trouble caused when the two come together
He used the word “temptation” twice in the previous verses but with the idea of the “ trials” believers face vs. 2 & 12
Now, beginning in verse 13 he refers to temptation in the sense that we often think of when we use the word “temptation”
James now uses the word in the sense of a solicitation to do contrary to the Will of God
~~~OPENING PRAYER~~~
I. THE “PRESENCE” OF TEMPTATION – vs. 13, 14
Context:
In v.2 James wrote of “trials” as a definite “matter”
Not “if” but “when” they come
2 When I’m Tempted – James 1:13-16 He now is writing about “temptations” as a definite “experience”
Notice carefully v.13 – “Let no man say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted of God’: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man:”
Notice again that he does not say “if” but “when”
It’s not a matter of if temptation will come, but when!
He writes of “trials” as something experienced by “every man” vs.9-10
Now he writes of “temptations” as the experience of “every man”
We now read in v. 14 - "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed."
James speaks again of "every man"
I Corinthians 10:13 – “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: …”
The word “common” means “belonging to everyone”
We will be tempted
The kind of temptation may change
For example:
3 When I’m Tempted – James 1:13-16
Kids and candy, young adults and sensuality, riches for the middle aged, and power for the elderly
A. Temptation cannot be “Attributed to God” – v.13
Again v.13 – “Let no man say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted of God’: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:”
There were those in James’ day who taught that God was indirectly responsible for the existence of evil
Some Jewish rabbi’s taught what was called yetzher ha’ra, which means “evil impulse”
They taught that this “evil impulse” was part of man’s original created nature, thus God was indirectly responsible for temptation
The poet Robert Burns wrote:
Thou knowest Thou has formed me With passions wild and strong And listening to their witching voice Has often led me wrong
Burns seem to suggest that God was responsible for the wild and strong passions of man and these passions were often the reason for his temptations
Yet James tells us that no man can say that God is responsible for temptation
4 When I’m Tempted – James 1:13-16 James was saying - "Don’t even remotely suggest that God has anything to do with your temptations”
The very idea is absurd, Why?
1) God is Holy; meaning without sin
God Himself lacks the capacity to be tempted
God cannot be tempted
He has no vulnerability to evil and is utterly impregnable to its onslaughts
2) God does not tempt us to sin
We can’t blame God for temptation
We often hear the Sodomite community say –
“God made us this way”
To justify such a theory is to severely twist and pervert the scriptures
God is not directly or indirectly responsible for temptation or for the sin that results from temptation
Temptation cannot be “Attributed to God”
B. Temptation cannot be “Avoided By Man” – v.14
“But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed” 5 When I’m Tempted – James 1:13-16 Again, “every man” experiences temptation, Why?
James speaks of the desires that we have
He uses the word "lust"
When we hear or use the word “lust” it is always associated with illicit desires
But the word James uses refers to a deep, strong desire or longing of any kind, good or bad
It is true that God created within man certain desires
We thirst and are hungry
Those are God-given desires
We have a desire to be content
Male and Female are attracted to each other
God made us that way
He put in us this attraction or desire
All of these are God-given desires
They are not bad desires, but good
But with the entrance of sin there arose a new desire that seeks to get us to fulfill those right desires in a wrong way
6 When I’m Tempted – James 1:13-16 In a way God never intended them to be fulfilled
It’s placing the wrong value on legitimate needs
Illustration: I read about what was called "export-rejects" in Britain after WWII
In an effort to boost their economy and build export of consumer goods, such things as china, pottery, cloth goods were sent abroad
The people of Britain never saw these goods
They were all sent overseas
Yet, they could buy what was called an "export-reject"
The object wasn't good enough to be sent overseas because it was faulty in its manufacture
It was released to the home market
The British people bought these "export-rejects" and paid a high price to obtain them
Truth: The fulfillment of God-given desires “outside” of God's will is to accept a second rate fulfillment (faulty product), and as we shall see, at a high price
We must understand that we all have certain desires and longings
James speaks of these as our "own lusts"
7 When I’m Tempted – James 1:13-16 Application: One thing may be a temptation to one person but not a problem for someone else
What is a problem to you, may not be a problem to me
What is a problem to me may not be a problem to you
There are our "own lusts" (Turn to I John 2:16)
Illustration: (Humor) I heard about three preachers talking over lunch
One suggested they confess their sins one to the other
One said, "That's a good idea, I'll go first
I hate to admit it, but I take an occasional drink"
The second spoke up and said, "I would not want others to know about it, but I like to gamble."
They both looked at the third preacher and said, "We have confessed our sins, now it’s your turn."
The third said, "My sin is gossip and I can't wait to get out of here."
As I said, we all have our "own lusts"
There are those particular problem areas of specific temptations we personally have to deal with
In I John 2:16 we are given a trinity of temptation
8 When I’m Tempted – James 1:13-16 “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”
John speaks of the "lust of the flesh”
This describes a consuming passion to do
Secondly, he speaks of the "lust of the eyes”
This describes a consuming passion to have
Lastly, he speaks of the "pride of life”
This describes a consuming passion to be
All temptation could be placed into one or all of these categories
They all describes a world system that is constantly pulling at us to fulfill the longings we have been given by God outside of His will
These temptations seek to get us to abuse God given longings
THE “PRESENCE” OF TEMPTATION Cannot be “Attributed to God” Cannot be “Avoided By Man”
II. THE “PROCESS” OF TEMPTATION - v.14
“But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed”
9 When I’m Tempted – James 1:13-16 We are not only reminded of the “presence” of temptation but we also see the “process”
We see how temptation works or how we are tempted
James uses the picture of a hunter and a fisherman to describe the process of temptation
He speaks of being “drawn away” and being “enticed”
He has spoken of “lusts” and now he speaks of “lures”
A. Luring the Believer “Away” (The Entrapment)
The words "drawn away" speak of being snared in a trap
The picture is that of a hunter setting a baited trap
Here is a steel trap that should be alarming rather than attractive to the hunted prey …
So to draw the prey to the trap, the hunter puts something inside the trap to appeal to the desires of the animal and to lure them away from their course and into to the trap
To understand temptation is to realize that the pull of our flesh, the world and the devil is not just to get us to sin and feel guilty …
But has as its ultimate goal the drawing us away from God
As believers we should seek to serve, honor and love God
10 When I’m Tempted – James 1:13-16 Yet the world, the flesh and the devil are continually seeking to interrupt our fellowship and draw us away from God
This is the aim and objective of the use of temptation
Luring the Believer “Away” (The Entrapment)
We also see the matter of:
B. Luring the Believer “In” (The Enticement)
The word "enticed" is a fishing term that speaks of baiting the hook
The fisherman knows that a bare hook will not be attractive to the fish
So he puts a nice juicy worm on the hook
Mr. Fish comes swimming along and the bait is too attractive to resist, it appeals strongly to his desires, so he is drawn away and then drawn in
He takes the bait, but in the bait is a hook
Temptation is not only a process of being drawn away (from God) but also being drawn in (into sin)
I remind you that the devil is a pro at fishing
He knows the kind of bait to use on each of us
He is very skillful in knowing what appeals to our desires
11 When I’m Tempted – James 1:13-16 He knows what to put in the trap and put on the hook to draw us away and draw us in
Illustration: John White gave this illustration
“Have you ever fooled around with a piano?
Open the top, Press the loud pedal
Then sing a note into the piano as loudly as you can
Stop and listen
You will hear at least one chord vibrating in response to the note you sang
You sing and a string in the piano picks up your voice and plays it back
Here, then, is a picture of temptation
Satan calls and you vibrate.”
He goes on to say that the appropriate response is not to vibrate to the voice of the devil,
But, instead to release the loud pedal and close the top of the piano
The devil’s bait is always tempting, but we must never forget the price for taking his bait
THE “PRESENCE” OF TEMPTATION
12 When I’m Tempted – James 1:13-16 Cannot be “Attributed to God”
Cannot be “Avoided By Man”
THE “PROCESS” OF TEMPTATION
Luring the Believer “Away” (The Entrapment)
Luring the Believer “In” (The Enticement)
III. THE “PRODUCT” OF TEMPTATION - v.15
“Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”
James describes the product or results of yielding to temptation
A. The “Conception” of Sin
The word "conceived" describes a woman conceiving a child
Up to this point, James has described someone being tempted
The devil has baited his hooks and set his traps to entice us
At this point no sin had been committed
It’s not a sin to be tempted
It becomes sin when we yield to temptation
This conception speaks of a person yielding to temptation in their heart and mind
13 When I’m Tempted – James 1:13-16 When the “opportunity” and the “temptation” come together
There is that moment when the will joins the desire
It’s at this point that the sin is conceived
What is this conception?
A person begins to think about it, imagine, and then, the decision is made to yield
It is what someone described as an “unholy marriage” between desire and opportunity, inclination and incitement
Bible Example: I think of David and his sin of adultery with Bathsheba in II Samuel 11
We read in verse 2, “he saw”
A woman bathing was the temptation
At this point no sin had been committed
But we read in verse 3 that David, “sent and enquired”
It was at that moment that sin was conceived
David begin to think about the woman he saw
Whenever sin is conceived it is only a matter of time when there will be a birth to sin
We read in verse 4 that David “took her”
14 When I’m Tempted – James 1:13-16 He yielded first in his heart and mind, and it was not long before what was conceived was born
Illustration: D.L. Moody said: “You can’t keep a bird from flying over your head, but you can keep it from building a nest in your hair.”
We may not be able to avoid temptation, but we can prevent its conception
The “Conception” of Sin
B. The “Conclusion” of Sin
We see that once sin is conceived it "bringeth forth"
The words literally mean, "ceases to be pregnant"
There is the birth that I have been describing
What is the result of this birth?
When the sin has been yielded to, James tells us the fruit and result is “death”
James is not talking about physical death
The word is descriptive of a “stillbirth”
Sin never produces what it claims it will or what you think it will
Sin always paints a pretty picture
15 When I’m Tempted – James 1:13-16 It always tells you that it will make you happy, satisfied
Or, to put in other words, sin will tell you that it will give birth to joy and happiness
But sin always produces stillbirths
You yield to that which you think will fulfill your desires but what you end up with is a stillborn experience
The word “death” literally means “separation”
You find yourself separated from God and the things of God
You find yourselves separated from real joy and real happiness, fulfillment
Is it no wonder that James says in verse 16, “Do not err”
The words mean, "don’t be pulled away"
James is telling us not to let Satan's bait pull us away
As believers we should always remember that temptation plus opportunity equals trouble
CONCLUSION
The best thing to do is to not allow wrong thinking and influences into your life
You can choose not to! We have to be deliberate!
16 When I’m Tempted – James 1:13-16 David wrote in Psalms 101:3a – “I ‘will’ set no wicked thing before mine eyes:” (Don’t look at or listen to)
Jesus said not to “Look” also Matthew 5:28 – “But I say unto you, That whosoever ‘looketh’ on a woman ‘to’ lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”
Proverbs 4:14 & 15 – “Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men”. 15 “Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away” (Don’t go there)
Job 31:1 – “I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?”
When we allows things contrary to the Will of God into our lives through the “gates of our lives” (eyes, ears, mouth) we are asking for trouble
Is there an area that you know in your heart you have a tendency toward, and attraction to, a weakness for?
Then maybe you need to come before the Lord, claim His promises, go forward by faith, trusting Him
Won’t you be obedient?
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