The Anatomy of Temptation

James 1. I'm going to backtrack just for the sake of today's sermon because there's some matter, substance in verses 2 and 3 that have to do with where we're going to be today. So I want to just drop back there and read that. Verse 2, "...Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.

For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect, complete, lacking in nothing." And then I want you to jump forward to verse 12. Verse 12, "...Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial.

For when he's stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him." And so you see, verses 2 and 3, verse 12, has similar matter, substance. But now let's carry on here. Verse 13, "...Let no one say when he is tempted, I'm 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. Sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers." Now, folks, James is tough. I've not preached through it before, and it is challenging me more than I thought it would, because I remember when David Butterball went through it. And it didn't seem so challenging then.

But you know what I found? There's almost zero agreement on what James is doing as to whether all of this really ties together into one big overarching issue or theme that he's wanting to drive home versus if it's just a lot of separate, disconnected... How much is there one major argument? How much does he just jump around to an assortment of totally different themes? No one agrees where the division should be. For instance, v. 12 that I started out with, well, I kind of attached it to v. 10 and 11 last time I preached on it. Now I'm going to pull it in and attach it to v. 13 and 14 and 15.

Nobody really agrees which way it goes. You look at one commentator, he takes it this way, and another guy takes it this way. And then v. 16.

Sometimes, don't be deceived. Some people attach it with what goes before. Some people attach it to what goes after.

And then the material itself, the content, the stuff, there's challenging teaching like v. 13 where it says God can't be tempted with evil. But you know what? There are verses that say that God is tempted. And then it says God tempts nobody.

But there are verses that says that God does tempt people. And Jesus was tempted. The Spirit of God specifically drove Him out in the wilderness to be tempted because He suffered when tempted.

He's quite able to help those who are being tempted. V. 13 says God tempts nobody. God tempts nobody.

And yet, I find that God incited David to number Israel. And if you look at the parallel verse, it says that Satan did it. Did Satan do it? Did God do it? And David specifically says it was sin when he did it.

Have you ever read the one where God is asking how Ahab is going to be deceived? And suddenly, one spirit steps forward and says, I'll do it. Well, how are you going to do it? Well, I'll be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of His prophets. And God's like, yep, and you'll succeed.

Go do that. Have you ever read that? Have you ever read things like Romans 1 where you get the fact that God gave people up? God gives people up to the lusts of their hearts and God gave them up to dishonorable passions. And since they didn't see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

And if anything's certain in Scripture, it is this. God is in control of temptations. He absolutely has the say-so over them.

Otherwise, Jesus would not have taught us to pray this way. Lead us not into temptation. It's the Lord's Prayer.

Well, how can I pray to God not to lead me into temptation unless God has the ability to make sure that I don't get led into temptation? Or there was a time when Jesus said to His disciples that they ought to be praying specifically so that they not be entering into some kind of temptation. The thing is, certainly God decrees and ordains that temptations exist. We know things like this.

Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and knowledge of God. There was a plan. There's foreknowledge.

You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. That's how Jesus was. So I ask this, can God be tempted? Can Jesus who is God be tempted? Does God Himself tempt anyone to sin? Or maybe we say it this way, incite anyone to sin.

Or maybe they're not the same thing. Give anyone up to sin. Are temptations something to rejoice in? Should I count them as a good thing? Or are they something to pray God would deliver me from? What do you think? Now, I want to show you something.

There is a Greek word. It is called parasmos. Just remember that word.

I'm going to use it. I'm going to use it not to wow you with my expertise of Greek, because I am no Greek student. But I want you to recognize something that is true in Greek just as well as it's true in English.

We can have... You're not baffled by this. If I say, go up there to the gas station and turn right, and you'll be on the right road. Okay, just use right.

I used it two different ways. You're not baffled by that. Or if I told you when my lost days, spring break, we went to Florida and it was our habit to break things.

Well, okay, I used break twice there in two different ways. And you're not baffled. You're not confused by that.

Because in the English language, it's very common for words to have more than one meaning. Well, in the Greek, it's the same. And there is this funny word, parasmos, that let me just tell you something about the King James.

Now, I know most of you don't have the King James in your lap. Let me tell you something about the King James translation because I cut my teeth on it for about the first ten years of my Christian life after I got past J.P. Green. Listen to this.

King James. Reading of James 1-2. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations.

So falling into temptation, according to the King James in James 1-2. Now, I know you're ears that he says trials. I recognize that.

But what I'm wanting to show you is you go back to the King James version, they translate that word in v. 2, which is parasmos, they translate it temptation. And when you get to v. 12, they translate it temptation. So it reads this way, Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life.

Well, the same word parasmos shows up in v. 13. And the King James translates it tempted. And then a second time tempted.

And a third time tempted. And then a fourth time tempteth. And a fifth time tempted.

So the ESV treats it different. You see it. In v. 12, Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he stood the test, he will receive the crown of life.

Whereas when you get to v. 13, the word tempt shows up. So James uses this is what you've got to get. I'm going somewhere with this.

This is a word study. Yes, you've got to figure out the etymology here or there's going to be some confusion in your heads as you seek to deal with this word. James uses one Greek word for both trial and for tempted.

And so the primary meaning of parasmos is broad enough to describe all the trials, all the hardships, all the losses, all the persecutions that may befall a follower of Christ. And it carries this idea. It's the idea of testing.

It's the idea of proving what you are made of. So that's the first meaning. And what it does is it tries our nature, our character, who and what we really are.

That's what a test is. It can be translated test or trial. But parasmos carries a second meaning.

And that's what you see in 13, 14. That's the meaning that is jumping out at us. That means it carries the idea of getting somebody to do something wrong.

We think of the devil as a tempter. He's trying to entice us to sin. So, the word carries both meanings.

Listen, folks, experiencing a trial and being tempted to sin are not identical meanings. So the ESV translators, they recognize that. So they correctly use the word trial in v. 2. They use trial in v. 12.

And then they change to using tempted in v. 13 and 14. And this way, they capture the two meanings of the same Greek word. You get that? Nobody's confused about that.

One word. And because you don't have the King James, I know you're not so liable to be confused by it. But I want to make it plain because I've called this message the anatomy of temptation.

Now when you think anatomy, any of you dissect? We dissected a pig in ninth grade. You dissect it and then you pull the guts out. The anatomy is basically we're dissecting this.

We're looking at what it's made of. And what I want to do is I want to look at the negative sense of parasmos and dissect that. And I want to look at the positive sense of parasmos and dissect that.

This is really important. So here's the situation. V. 13, James says that God tempts, parasmos, no one.

However, there are verses that say that God parasmoses people. So you've got to be able to distinguish between the two meanings. Otherwise, you're going to think that Scripture just contradicts itself.

Like, Genesis 22.1 says, after these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, here I am. You know what he was asking Him to do. Take Isaac up on Mount Moriah.

The King James renders it, it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham. So again in v. 13, James says God can't be tempted. Yet, here's the thing, we know Jesus was tempted.

Jesus is God. Moses says God was tempted. We have Exodus 17 too.

Therefore, the people quarreled with Moses and said, give us water to drink. And Moses said to them, why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test? KJV says tempt. But it's parasmos.

James says God does not parasmos anybody. Moses says He does. If you don't see the differences in the word, then it seems like it's just contradictory.

What seems obvious is this, James expects us to make a distinction between the two meanings of the same word. James expects us to distinguish between testing that God very much does and temptation or the enticement to sin which God does not do. He wants us to distinguish.

To separate. Now brethren, this is critical. You know why? The reason we have to flesh this out, the reason I'm making such a big deal of this is because the trial or KJV temptation of v. 12 leads to what? What does parasmos in v. 12 lead to? A crown of life.

What does parasmos in v. 13, 14, and 15 lead to? Brethren, that is no small deal that the same word leads to one and the same word leads to the other. And so, let's compare the anatomy of both. Let's dissect them.

First, I want to look at the positive view of parasmos. And that shows up in v. 2 and v. 12. And what I want to do is combine these two.

You'll see this. Look at v. 2. You see the trial. Okay, everybody sees that.

What does that trial do? What does it do? It tests our faith. Okay, now as I was looking at this, I think it's safe to conclude it tests something else. Go down to v. 12.

And notice this. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial. There it is again, the same thing that's in v. 2. Parasmos in the positive sense.

For when he stood the test, he will receive the crown of life. But notice this, which God has promised to those who love Him. And what I recognize is this, James is saying the crown goes to those who stand the test.

The crown goes to those who love God. What I'm recognizing is connect those two. The trial does not just test your faith.

Now listen, a trial tests your faith. What's faith? What does faith mean? What is faith? It's got to do with what I believe. It's got to do with how I take God at His Word.

What I do with what God has said about Himself. What I do with what God has promised me. Brethren, that is what faith is.

And when I get in a trial, you know what's being tested? What I really believe. You can say what you believe, but the trial reveals what's true at that level. But you know what else it proves? It proves my love.

Because the guy that stays steadfast proves to be the guy that loves Him. And brethren, people who love much will indeed suffer much. Oh, brethren, to the degree we love somebody, there's no question, it will show in difficult times.

How quick are you to throw in the towel? And so you've got a trial. Verse 2 tells me that there's a test of faith. You go back to 2 and 3. When you jump forth to 12, you get this idea to them that love.

And so there's this test of faith. There's a test of love. And then what happens? This is tested.

Both verse 2 and verse 3 have the same word. Steadfast. So remember, this is the anatomy of prosmas in the positive sense.

You get a trial. God brings a trial. God puts us in a difficult situation.

What happens? What I believe is tested. Something's happening up here. I'm thinking.

What I love is tested. In a positive sense, what happens is that the person, his love for Christ, he says, remember, he has forgiven much, loves much. I remember what God has done for me, what He's delivered me from, at what cost it was to Him.

It's like I am not going to bail out. I'm not going to turn my back. I'm not going to deny Him.

I love Him. And I believe, I believe that He won't leave me. I believe He won't forsake me.

I believe that He will give me grace. I believe He will be my help. I believe He's not going to abandon me in this thing.

And I believe that He has given promises that He is going to deliver me from my idols. He is going to put that law in my heart. He's going to cause me to keep it.

Sin won't have dominion over me. I believe these things. And what happens is you don't sin.

You stay steadfast. That means you stand the ground of righteousness even when things are difficult. But you keep moving along, because this is the anatomy of perasmus in the positive sense.

And what's the next thing you have? Well, when you go to v. 3, you've got this reality that there is, or you go to v. 4, steadfastness has its full effect. So you move through. You've got the trial.

It tests the faith. It tests the love. There's steadfastness.

And then what do you have? You have the full effect. And that involves completion and perfection. And then what do you have? V. 12 tells us a crown of life.

So that's perasmus, the anatomy, in the positive sense. Okay, so God does test us that way. There's no question.

Brethren, I put perasmus in. I searched it through the Old Testament Greek, which is called the Septuagint. And so I was looking for it.

I was looking for it in the New Testament. And you get places like this. Jesus said to Philip, where are we to buy bread? So these people may eat.

He said this to test him. That's our word. Perasmus word group.

Hebrews 11.17, By faith Abraham when he was tested. That's just repeating what I already read to you from Genesis. He offered up Isaac.

1 Peter 4.12, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test perasmus, you, as though something strange were happening to you. So God does perasmus us in the sense of this word. Ah, but, in v. 13, James insists God does not ever perasmus us in the negative sense.

Now we want to look at that. Let's examine what James has in mind. So, here's our anatomy.

V. 14, you see temptation. So that's where we start. There's a temptation.

What do you find next? You know what I find next? Desire. Ooh, this reminds me of Romans 6 when it talks about resisting the rain of sin in your mortal body to obey the desires. Brethren, there are desires.

And those desires, you know what the word there? Desire can be good or bad. You have, you know what? The desire for sex is not a bad desire. If God didn't design that into us, what do you think would happen to the population of this world? It's a very good thing.

God designed it. God designed hunger and He designed thirst. Can those things be taken to excess? Can those be taken to the place where you've got sexual immorality or you've got gluttony or you've got drunkenness? I mean, things like working to have money.

That's a good thing. But you know what happens? There's this desire that can be good. But what's happening? Okay, so you've got temptation.

You've got desire. And you've got enticement. There's an allurement.

So what's happening is, it's the idea of the bait that is on a hook and it comes by the fish. It looks good. You think it's going to satisfy that desire.

And you know what? James says, as you're being lured, there's this process, there's this drawing, and there's a point. Bang! You crossed it. And you know what just happened? It's like the idea of a woman and something has just been conceived inside of her.

There's a child conception. And now there's sin. Whatever desire was there has turned to an evil desire.

And you know what? If you allow that child to grow and to mature, it's interesting where you have a trial and it runs to full effect. There's a crown of life. When you have this temptation and it runs its full course, this child of sin matures.

There's a second generation. There's a grandchild. It's a hell child.

You're going to hell. That's the anatomy of this thing. And you see it.

You see I'm not making this up. You see it comes right off the page here. You all see it.

Brethren, you know what? That enticement to sin that brings this conception. The desire becomes an evil desire. And you know what happens? It's by the act of your will that there is conception.

And God says through James, you can never blame God for crossing that point. God doesn't do it. God can't be tempted by sin.

And the whole point is if He can't be tempted by sin, it is against His nature. He's not in the business of tempting you to cross that line. He does not twist your arm to cross that line.

Brethren, that is the reality. That's what we're faced with here. He never tempts me.

James is saying God never tempts me to force me to that point of conception. In fact, brethren, there is another verse and you know this in your Bibles. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.

God is faithful and will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, He will also provide the way of escape so that you may be able to endure it. You know what? Every single one of us when we sin, what we have done is we reach that point and we didn't have to do it. God gave you a way out.

Every time, there is a way out. God doesn't force it. God doesn't make it happen.

That's the reality. Sin only conceives when you willingly say no to the escape route. That's why it conceives.

God tempts no one. I recognize, brethren, especially us who have this concept of the sovereignty of God, when we try to take God's sovereignty and how He's in control of all and He's not the author of sin and He's not the author of our temptation and it being conceived within us. I mean, brethren, we have to grapple with this.

We have to wrestle. The fact is that God provides no positive agency or action on His part to force you and me to do evil. Yes, God is sovereign over all.

But somehow His sovereignty seems to be exercised by giving us over. Giving up. That is biblical language.

He gives us up. It's like there's already a tendency on these people's part and God gives them up. You know, sometimes we have this idea that I've heard the difference between God taking the cup and slamming it against the wall and God just taking His hand out from under it and it falls to the ground.

But who controls the gravity that pulled it to the ground? I mean, any time you get into the sovereignty, it's like how? How? And you know what? I've never heard anybody that has an answer. And I hear guys like Sproul and MacArthur, they don't even try to answer. I mean, there are mysteries.

Between the positive and the negative agency or the active and passive aspect in which the sovereignty of God works. But brethren, one thing we've got to recognize is yes, God hands people over. God gives people up.

Yes, there are mysteries as to God's active and passive agency in all of this. But I'll tell you this, not today, not at the judgment, and not in hell throughout forever will anybody ever be able to look to God and say, you twisted my arm to sin. And you know He doesn't do that.

Whatever you may think in your head about the sovereignty of God, when it comes right down to actual, practical how you sin, you know God doesn't twist your arm. You know you chose it. You know you did it.

You know it was an act of your will. Brethren, that's just a reality. So, notice the words in 15.

Fully grown. Now, these are important words. Because if you just take this literally without really grasping with the word fully grown, what? Can anybody be saved? I mean, if you take this thing at face value, it's like if I sin, what? I die.

But I think the fully grown is really important for us to recognize. It means there's some duration in which if sin is allowed to continue to become fully grown. Let me ask you this, after sin is conceived and that child is conceived in that womb, how do you think we might not let it come to maturity and become fully grown? I mean, even as a Christian, how? I mean, confession, repentance.

But I'm talking repentance, folks. You know you get the kind of people that say I'm sorry over and over and over again and they never change their life. That's not what's being talked about.

You don't want this thing to become full grown. If there's confession, repentance, turning. There needs to be turning, folks.

All the while, that sin otherwise is allowed to grow and mature and it will bear a child in the end and you can't get away from it. So, here's what I want to do. Take the positive sense of prosmas and the negative sense and kind of put them together.

So you get a trial. A trial comes. Difficulty.

Something. Testing. Well, in that test, your own will is confronted by this temptation.

I mean, I'm in this difficult place and God has designed a righteous path for me to walk and He's given me out of all the temptations to sin. And you know when we get in a trial, there's more than one temptation to sin. We're often hit by numerous.

It can be the trial of say, lacking faith. Lacking money. You get in a trial like that in the church, there's these temptations to do things, say things that may not be the perfect demonstration of faith or trust in God, trust in His promises.

You may be barraged and it may not just be idolatry, trusting this thing over there. There may be a tendency in you to complaining to all sorts of different sins. And yet, in this gamut, as we're going through all of this, God is always saying there's a way out over here.

There's a way out. In fact, we might think about it more like Bunyan saw it as a straight path. We're always being tempted to go to the side, go to the side, go to the side.

And yet, there's a straight path in the midst of all of it. And so, there's temptation to choose the sinful path. We have these desires.

You have desires. We have desires. Hunger and thirst and sexual desire.

You know what? There's a desire of self-preservation that in and of itself is not bad. There's desires to work and have money. There's desires to have you and your family provided for.

There's all sorts of desires. You have desires to feel good, desires of pleasure. These things in and of themselves are not bad, but you've got all these desires.

This trial comes into your life. There's these temptations and enticements. There's allurements.

The world, the devil. I mean, that's what he is. He's a tempter.

So, you've got these influences in your life that are... Listen, don't think you're in this thing just walking through unaffected by many powers and energies and interaction from other sources. It's all over the place. You walk through and there's these enticements.

And you're being caused to careen your neck and look over at this and that. And they're all saying, come over here. It's like Bunyan when he describes him going through the Vanity Fair.

And they're all calling him over. Come this way. Come that way.

And you've got to stay on that way. This is the idea when you bring these together. And enticement.

It pulls at those desires toward that point of conception. So, I'm getting this temptation to come off the path. And the moment you go off it, then conceive.

Bang! There is sin that is conceived. And you go over the line into gluttony or drunkenness or lust or greed. And God tests us.

But there's a legitimate desire in God that as you're being tested, you say, well, God's sovereign. And if I fail in it, obviously, wasn't that His will? You know what God's revealed will is? It's things like Amos. Probably not a text you know well, but listen.

Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. You cannot convince me reading your Bible that God delights when you sin. God delights when you take the path of righteousness.

God doesn't delight in you sinning any more than He delights in the death of the wicked who are getting the consequences of their sin. Everywhere, God is expressing to us that He desires that we walk in a path of righteousness. So, God may call you to endure difficulties, but He will not cause you folks to suffer defeat.

You know what James is saying? That cause lies within me. That's where it's to be found. Not with Him.

I can never blame Him. And that's what James is emphasizing. You see it in verse 13.

No one say when he's tempted, I'm being tempted by God. God cannot be tempted with evil. He Himself tempts nobody.

And I just emphasize this again. Why is that there? God can't be tempted with evil? Well, since God's not susceptible to any desire for evil, don't imagine Him desiring you to do evil. It's all contrary to His nature.

That's the idea here. And what he's saying is don't blame God. You need to blame yourself.

One of the things if we're going to fight this battle. Listen, James isn't saying this out of the blue. He's saying this to Christians who are under trials.

And what he's doing is he's encouraging them not to come to the point of conception. You need to stay back from that. You need to think right.

You need to act right based on your perception of all this. You need to have, I mean, your faith needs to stand the test. Your love needs to stand the test.

And brethren, there are ways that we can blame Him. You see, when you blame somebody else, you kind of excuse it. You make it easier to cross over to that point of conception.

Don't blame God. And I know we typically don't say, God, it's your fault. But you know what? There are subtle ways of thinking that we actually do blame Him.

And I just tried to put together a number of ways that we do. But you remember, the first one I have is the first one that we find in Scripture. The first sin that came upon the world.

Adam. And what did Adam say to God when God came and said, Adam, you're guilty. What did He say? The woman you gave Me.

And you know, you got the woman, defer, you gave Me. Your fault, God. And folks, we think that way on a regular basis.

That God's providence, God's sovereignty, God's predestination, who can help it? I mean, after all, God designed things the way... God wanted it like this. You know, there are people that say, well, if God doesn't want Adam to fall, why put the tree in the garden? If God doesn't want me to fall into sexual sin, why didn't He give me a wife? Some single gal might say here, not a wife on her part. But brethren, we can get to the place.

And you know what? Even though guys like Saul and Aaron didn't specifically say the people you gave Me, they basically did. You remember, Moses comes back to Aaron and he's made this calf, these calves, or a calf. And why? Well, the people, you know, they just came and they brought me all this gold and I threw it in the fire and this thing popped out.

It's like your people, your people did this. Your people weren't satisfied. Moses, we don't know where he is and who he is anymore.

And remember Saul? It's like, well, the people. You know, he was supposed to kill everybody, the Amalekites. And what's this bleeding Samuel says? Well, the people, you know, they put this pressure on me.

And so you can blame God indirectly. You know, it's the wife you gave me. It's the job you gave me.

It's the kids you gave me. Now you don't really say it, but when you say, oh, if I had a different situation, what you're really saying in the end of it all, if I just had a different situation than the one God has given me. And brethren, it's nothing other than blaming Him.

Or you can say this. You can say, well, God's Word isn't clear. Oh, yeah, yeah.

We sat down with somebody not paying their taxes and it's like, well, you know, this guy over here says, and that guy over there says, and almost like it's not clear in the Scriptures that God says, pay your taxes. It's like, what? It's not clear? Yeah, it's another way of blaming God. Or I think of this.

God says, I'm free. God cautioned. After all, God cautioned us against man-made rules and God cautions us against legalism.

So He wants me free. So therefore, I run out and I drink on a regular basis in front of people who have a drinking problem and you're not letting love rule the day. I mean, people can say, well, God didn't give me the grace to resist.

Well, either you're lying or God is lying. And I think we know who we ought to pick on that one. God doesn't make us perfect.

The number of times I have heard people use Jeremiah 17. Well, my heart, wicked and desperate. Or Romans 7 is a classic.

God doesn't make us perfect, so you can't expect me to be perfect. And so we just basically write off God's standard as being sub-whatever. God does tell us to press after perfection in Scripture and be perfect like He's perfect and be holy like He's holy.

But God decreed sin. He can stop it if He wants. By the way, you remember there was a pagan king and he took Sarah and God said, I kept you from sinning against Me.

Well, God could do it. God could have stopped me. This idea of sovereignty, brethren, we can get to a place, much like you take sovereignty and you basically just diminish the need of evangelism or of prayer meetings.

It's like you can just diminish the effort that we need in fighting sin. Well, you know, God's in control. And if I fall into it, well, you know, He purposed it.

And you know what v. 16 says? Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. One of the greatest ways you can be deceived. Brethren, I see this all the time.

You know, one of the greatest ways you can be deceived is you just simply say, I'm a Christian, therefore, verses 13, 14, and 15 do not apply to me. I'm a Christian, I'm forgiven. Doesn't James know that even if I pass over into the point of conception, Christians are forgiven.

This doesn't apply. You know what? James is writing to Christians. He's writing to these scattered brethren.

He says in v. 16, brethren, it is you I'm talking to. Don't be deceived. Why? Because you know what? There are people sitting there hearing his epistle and there are people sitting here.

And you claim to be Christian, but what he's saying is you cannot hide behind that title. You cannot hide behind your membership in a church. If the shoe fits, wear it.

And if you get to the point where you are finding yourself falling into this conception and there is not a true turning and a true attack and a true battle so that it is proven in your life that sin no longer has dominion over you like it once did, he says, don't be deceived. Brethren, I still remember the guy that wrote to the church and it got passed on to me and he said, I know I'm a Christian. That's where he started.

I know I'm a Christian, but I read in my Bible that sin will not have dominion over Christians. I'm a Christian and sin has dominion over me. Pastor Tim, tell me how that can be.

That's what people do all the time. I don't doubt there are people here. I'm a Christian.

Therefore, this doesn't touch me. Brethren, you better remember this. There's a crown of life at the end of one of these prosmas uses and there's a child that is born and you don't want that child.

It is the hell child. And I'll tell you, if your life is characterized by the one over the other, brethren, you should fear. Look, the sort of life you live and the way you handle trials and temptations is a true test to who and what you really are.

Because brethren, I'll tell you this, when things get hard, it tests what you really believe. And do not think that, oh, you can say I'm a Christian and yet you face trial and temptation and the decisions you make show you really don't trust God. He isn't your rock, your foundation, your point of refuge.

Where you make decisions and you do it. You can't blame God. The will is involved.

Where you're confronted by some hard thing and you say, I am going to choose to go this way and it is the wrong way. Now look, we fail. Little children, I write to you that you're not sinned, but if you do, and there are seasons when we do.

And we need that advocate with Father. We need that advocate. Jesus Christ the righteous.

But brethren, how you respond is there repentance? Is there confession? Is there turning? That is how you don't let this thing become fully mature where it has the ability to give birth to another child. You see, there's two generations here and that second generation child is a child you do not want to have. And James doesn't say, well, brethren, you know, you all claim to be brethren, so you're all good, you're all safe, and you all don't need to hear this.

He says, do not be deceived. And brethren, I'll tell you what all this comes down to is when you get into difficulties, when you get into what life has to throw at you, how are you responding to the truth that God has given you? And the truth about who God is. The truth of what God promises.

Brethren, I was thinking about some of these that maybe what we have to do is just think, brethren, steadfast. Steadfast. The person that's steadfast, there's a crown of life.

Steadfast means something. And it means when you get in this situation where you're being tried to grumble. Remember the grumblers? They didn't enter the promised land.

Hebrews tells us they perished. Don't think grumbling is a small thing. Don't think every time you deal with something hard, well, God forgives.

It's not that big a deal. Brethren, we do not want to think that way. James is obviously making this out to be a very big deal.

But just here at the end, what I want to do is back through something. Later in this letter, James says judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Well, I find that interesting.

You know what he's saying? Unmerciful Christians go to hell. James isn't so much about starting out with whether you're a Christian or not. He assumes charitably, hey, you use the term.

You claim to be a Christian. You claim to be a brother. He'll talk to you as your brother.

But he says don't be deceived. You reach judgment day and your life is basically characterized by not showing mercy, you will not be shown mercy on that day. Okay, we can say this.

The unmerciful will find themselves in hell. Okay, let's back up. That hell child was given birth in their life.

How'd that happen? Well, that full maturing came about. How'd that happen? How'd they get there? They didn't repent. They didn't confess and truly turn from their unmerciful ways.

And you can back up to the child before. What kept happening? They kept getting to a point in life where they were faced with the needs of others. And they closed a blind eye.

Brethren, you know what? It's rare somebody will admit to being unmerciful. But you better be remembering what Christ said. You know what He said? He said if you greet those who greet you, if you love those who love you, He said what are you doing more than tax collectors? What are you doing more than Gentiles do? Brethren, lost people do that.

Just because you've been nice to your kids, lost people do that. Brethren, the reality is, do you hear the cry in your soul of orphans in Myanmar? Can you just shut your heart to that? How can you say the love of God is in you if you can just shut your heart to that? I heard that there's some people in the church, it was brought to my attention, some people in the church are saying, we need to forget people like that out there. We need to consume ourselves with what's happening here at home.

Since when did Jesus tell you the church should be like that? We just close our hearts. Brethren, when all you do is care about those who greet you and those who love you, what are you more than them? Brethren, we're supposed to love our enemies. We're supposed to go after the hard case, the women of the city who are sinners.

Those are the kind Jesus went after. He was a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Brethren, you know what happens? That point where sin is conceived, the sin of selfishness, the sin of greed, the sin of covetousness, you know where they conceive? They conceive at that point where I'm walking down this path and God has given me His Word.

Jesus has given us many things to say. We should be like the Macedonians. We should be like Jesus Christ Himself who though He was rich, He became poor so that we poor people might be made rich.

You have 2 Corinthians 8-9 and all the extensive things that are said there about giving. You have even James himself. He says, you look over and you see somebody in need.

He said, look, if you're not helping those in need, you're not helping the brother in need whether that brother be here or far away. Folks, you see that need and you just close your heart to that. Brethren, I'll tell you, James says it and John says it as well.

You're a fake if you get to that point. And that's why in the end, this thing totally conceives. Well, my needs are greater.

I've got a family. I need to do this. Brethren, out of all the things that James could say in this letter, he says the unmerciful are going to find that there is no mercy on that day.

I go to church. Yeah, but that's the same kind of argument that people in Matthew 7 used. Lord, Lord, we were there.

We were there. We did this. We did that.

We did many mighty works. We were in the church. And He's going to say, I never knew you.

And one of the things that marks the followers of Christ is mercy, sacrifice, trusting. See, this is really a trust issue. Can I part with my stuff in this world to take care of your need? Or even more, people in faraway places or people out there.

People like this. Brethren, sexually immoral. Sexually immoral.

We know what Scripture says. What does it say? It says, the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality.

I warn you as I warned you before, those that do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. So guess what? Sexually immoral, impure, and sensuous people, they find themselves in hell. And so, you know what happens when you come to the point of conception? You can somehow write off that Jesus said you pluck out that eye, you cut off that hand, or you go to hell.

Well, it's not really serious. After all, how can I take it serious? Jesus came into the world to save sinners, even chief of sinners, and certainly He came to save my sins. And so you kind of downplay it.

God will understand. And so you fall. And again, you can start blaming God.

Well, God hasn't given me a wife. I've been praying for a wife. It's better to marry than to burn.

How can I take that serious if God doesn't give me somebody to marry? See, it's His fault! And so you come to this place, or you're the guy, I'm not satisfied with my wife. My wife's been holding out on me. She's cold to me.

She's this, that, and their other thing. See, somehow you put together this excuse. Oh, this is only one time.

God will understand. God is forgiving. And so you come up to this line.

And then there's conception. Why? Because you're deceiving yourself. And James is saying that way leads to death.

Brethren, we've got to fight sin. We've got to be serious about this thing. There are ways people get to hell, even from the church and from the doorway of heaven like Bunyan portrayed.

Brethren, there is a way there. And it's through playing games. And that's why he's saying don't be deceived.

Brethren, I cannot tell you how often I hear the imputed righteousness of Christ used as an excuse for why you can get away with sin in this life. Brethren, don't go there. The imputed righteousness of Christ is a glorious doctrine.

Righteousness not my own. But brethren, you better have a righteousness of your own. And your righteousness needs to exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees.

And that is a righteousness of your own. That is when you work out, yes, in the power of Christ. God has given you the ability to resist at that point of conception.

For one thing, He's put His grace in you. He's given the promise that He's not going to let sin have dominion over you. He is going to write that law in your heart.

He is going to cause you to keep it. He's going to give you the power. By His grace, you are able to weather even when you have a thorn in the flesh to not go the path of sin.

Brethren, this is real and this is true. He is going to purge us from our idols. He is in control.

He means to make us predestined that you may conform to the image of Christ. He's in that business. And with every temptation, He gives you a way out.

Don't play games here. People get to hell down a certain path. And I'm not preaching works.

I'm saying there is a faith. This tests what you really believe. Do you believe God is with you? Do you believe God empowers you? Do you believe God's better? Brethren, every single brother and sister in this room, you know what happens when you fall into sexual sin? It makes you feel good.

It makes you feel hollow. It doesn't make you feel spiritual. It doesn't make you feel like praying.

It makes you feel ugly and dirty and defeated. And you know it. Brethren, gossips.

Full-grown? They're in hell. Romans 1 says this. These people, they're gossips.

Slanders. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Remember, brethren, these trials test our faith.

They test what we believe. We're always going to have people in our life that we'd like to say something about. There's always a temptation with the tongue.

Oh, isn't it amazing how much James deals with the tongue? Because what happens? We get to this place. And you know what? This is a birth. This is a conception that happens so quick and effortlessly.

All we have to do is flap these lips, shake that tongue, and words come out. And we constantly are in places where we don't like the way somebody's treated us. We don't like the way they've done this.

And it is very easy to run this tongue. The amount of times that... Oh, brethren, people run their tongues. Rather than going to the individual that they have a problem with, they will run their tongues to other people.

The number of times... I just heard recently, and oh, brethren, it is amazing how often people say things in a dark corner somewhere, and the words get back. Words can have wings, and they fly to places you never imagined. And the words you spoke... I just recently heard about somebody in the church who has a fault against an elder, and it came back to my ears.

And they felt so free to just go move those lips to somebody else and vent their problem. Brethren, gossips and slanders find their place in hell. Rightly so.

Oh, but it's such an easy thing. Oh, it's just a few words. God is listening to your words in every single one of them.

Brethren, James is saying don't be deceived. Listen, we need to fight. There's many other sins that we could go through.

Many. But brethren, the place where sin conceives, we need to be brutal, we need to be honest, we need to fight. Parasmas.

Trials. Parasmas. Temptations.

And you see the anatomy of this. It's all going somewhere. We're living our lives, folks.

We want to be victorious, and we want to help one another. That's why I'm preaching this. I want to help you.

I want you to see this. Brethren, there is a battle. Scripture really does press us to perfection.

Don't downplay that. Oh, brethren, if we did a word study on perfection throughout the New Testament, do it sometime. See how much the Word comes up.

And don't try to reinterpret it some way that the original meaning doesn't mean. God is pressing us. Little children, I write to you that you do not sin.

That's an apostle. He wrote his first epistle so that we wouldn't sin. If we do, he makes a concession.

But brethren, he's writing that we not sin. James is writing that we not sin. I'm preaching that we not sin.

Brethren, you really need to be fighting and striving to get to a place where you don't purposely sin. Purposely sin in a day, in a week. And if there's something wrong, you repent of it and you correct it.

Brethren, you can get to that place. And oftentimes when John Wesley pressed his doctrine of perfectionism, that is what he meant. To get to the place where you are not purposely choosing, willfully allowing the conception of that first child of sin.

Because you let that happen enough, brethren, people make shipwreck of the faith. You begin to toy with sin. You begin to allow that child to develop and mature and all of a sudden you wake up one day and it's matured to the point where it can give birth to its own child and that is the hell child and you're gone.

Don't think you can toy with this. There's a deceitfulness in sin. Don't be deceived.

Brethren, this is really serious. This is where we live. This is where we walk.

We want a church that's striving to run in righteousness. Christ has left us the example and the power of God. Oh, by the power of God, we are kept by faith through the power of God.

We're kept believing. Brethren, be in this book. You want a good safeguard.

We're sanctified by the Word of this truth. This is real. Don't be deceived.

Don't be deceived. Brethren, I think if there's anything... Paul talks about the people he ministered to and how that's such a crown to him. I think one of the great discouragements would be to have pastored the church and then to see, oh no, after all our counseling and teaching and pouring in in our prayers, they didn't make it.

They didn't make it. What happened? They just sat there and they totally disregarded what Scripture was saying. Father, please help us hear what James has to say.

Give us ears to hear even as it was said by the Lord Jesus to those seven churches. We want to have ears to hear what the Spirit of God is saying to the churches. Speak, O Lord.

Speak to us. I pray in Christ's name, Amen.