James No.3 Temptation - Diagnosis & Prescription

James chapter 1, and we'll be reading from verses 12 to 21. Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. When tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me.

For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when by his own desire he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin.

And sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death. Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created. My dear brothers, take note of this. Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.

For man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Here ends our reading.

Now I'd be glad if you'd have your Bibles open at the Epistle of James. This is the third of our morning addresses from this particular letter. I remind you that James was the brother of our Lord Jesus, pastor-in-chief of the growing church at Jerusalem.

And in this letter, which was possibly the first book of the New Testament ever to be written down, he addresses in typically Jewish fashion Christian people, not only in Palestine, but around the world. You'll recall that I have told you that the Hebrew verb to preach has the idea of putting beads upon a string. And Jewish teaching was often cast in a variety of forms inasmuch as many subjects were touched upon.

And here when you come to the Epistle of James, you find that that characteristic of Jewish teaching is preserved by the brother of our Lord as he writes on many, many subjects. A letter which is crammed full of practical teaching and therefore has an abiding value not only for Christian folk in the first century, but right down time to the 20th century. So then we come once more to this first chapter.

And we're going to be concentrating from the 12th verse right down to the 21st verse. You'll remember that the Apostle has made reference early on in the second verse to trials. It's translated in the authorized version as temptations.

But when you drop down to the 13th verse, the word is actually temptation as preserved in the AV. What I mean by that is that when you move to the new international version of the Bible, you get perhaps a more correct translation of those terms. In the first few verses, reference is made to trials which come from the Lord.

In the 13th verse, reference is made to temptations which come from the devil. Now what I want us to do as we think through the whole subject of temptations, their origin, and how to cope with them, I want to break open these verses of Scripture into three headings which I think will help us to follow the teaching of the Apostle James. For in the first few verses, from the 13th, say, to the 14th, and taking up again the teaching from the 17th to the 18th, he tells us where temptation does not come from.

And then if you go back to the 14th and 15th verses, he tells us where temptation does come from. And then in the remaining verses, from the 19th to the 21st, he tells us how to cope with temptation. Let me express that a little differently and help you to memorize the teaching of James.

In the opening part of our passage, as he works out the origin of temptation, he eliminates God as responsible. He eliminates God, verse 13. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God.

When you go to the second passage of our Scripture, from the 14th to the 15th verses, he isolates self. He isolates self, verse 14. But each one is tempted when by his own evil desire he's dragged away and enticed.

And from the 19th verse and onwards, he advocates action. He tells us what to do. He eliminates God as the originator of temptation.

He isolates self. That is what is responsible. That's the source of temptation.

And then he advocates certain practices, certain things that we should do. Now, having outlined these verses and their contents to you, I think that we're better poised to consider what this apostle has to say to us personally, right now, by the power of the Spirit of God. So we come to the factor that temptation does not originate from God.

That's why I drew, not simply for any pedantic reason, a distinction between trials and temptations. And I had to point out to you the greater clarity of the New International Version of the Bible when it distinguishes between the two in these verses. You see, trials have as their objective the strengthening of our faith.

Trials help us to put on muscle. Trials are always carried out for the benefit of the individual person or thing. Yes, thing.

You take the manufacturer of a plane or the manufacturer of a new car. What does he do? He tests his product. Why? Well, because he wants a better product.

He wants it ultimately to be the best product. And God, in His grace, will bring trials into our lives to give us muscle, to strengthen us. Trials strengthen.

Temptations sabotage. Temptations destroy. Temptations have as their ultimate goal the complete removal of spiritual growth and of strength.

So then, James makes it very clear indeed in the 13th verse that God never tempts anyone. He can't be tempted. The pull of temptation is never felt by God.

Neither does He release temptation into anyone's life at all. Now, James continues to argue the point and if you drop down to the 16th verse through to the 18th you'll see that there are three more reasons that he stretches out in front of us to underline the fact that God never tempts anyone. And so concerned is James that we understand this that he leads off by saying, Don't be deceived, my dear brothers.

Don't get this wrong. Be correct in your understanding of Christian doctrine on this point. No temptation comes from God.

Why not? Well, says James, it's illogical. There are certain things that you can say about God that completely remove any notion of Him being the originator of temptation from your mind. What can we say about God, James? Well, we can say that He is benevolent.

He is benevolent. Verse 17, Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights. Here's James and he's got a wonderful grasp of God.

He thinks of the rain as it showers down upon Palestine from time to time and he says, Aye, God's blessings are like that. Everything that's good, it drops like a shower from the hands of God for the benefits of people. If you ever feel that God has answered prayer in a cruel fashion, you've got it all wrong.

God never perpetrates cruelty amongst His children. God is not like that at all. He never sends a letter bomb in a gift wrapper as one commentator puts it.

The IRA and some other evil bodies in our world today sometimes think so low as to do things like that, sending bombs in gift wrappers. Not our God. Every good gift, every perfect gift is showered down from the Lord.

He's benevolent. And what's more, says John, says James, not only is He benevolent, but He's dependable. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down, the authorized version expresses it rather beautifully, from the Father of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

The NIV puts it, from the Father of the heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows. What does James have in mind? Well, what's up in the sky during the day in Palestine? The sun. And what do you see at night? The stars.

Why are they important? Well, if you know a little bit about the heavenly realm, then you can work out the time of day from the position of the sun in the sky. And at night, if you've lost your way, you look up and you see those heavenly bodies and you can determine just which way to go. There's no variety.

There's no change in the sun. There's no change in the stars. Not really.

They're in a regular, a fixed orbit or pattern. Now God's like that. He's absolutely dependable.

He doesn't change. But James says, really, the dependability of God goes beyond the illustration that I've used. Most illustrations fall down when you want to work out some spiritual truth.

You see, there are times when you can't see the sun. The sun sets for, and lasts for a dozen or so hours. And then there are occasions when the stars can't be seen because the sky is cloudy.

But with God, He's always absolutely dependable. He's never lost in the shadows. He's never removed from Christian people.

He's a benevolent God. He's a dependable God. And what's more, says James, as he works out his doctrine of the fatherhood of God, He's paternal.

He is our father. That's exactly the term that he uses in the 17th verse. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.

Now take that word father from the 17th verse and place it into the 18th verse. Make it be the subject instead of just the pronoun. The Father chose to give us birth through the word of truth.

Who's James referring to? He's referring to God. He's referring to Christian people. How do you understand God? He's my father.

He's your father. Aye, but He's a good father. And He has brought about our spiritual well-being through the word of truth.

We have been born again. That's how we understand salvation, is it not? Being born again. Now, the heavenly Father brought about our birth deliberately.

There have been fathers, alas, who were annoyed when they heard that their partner had conceived. There are fathers who never wanted their children. Rogue fathers.

There are fathers who don't care for their children. Careless fathers. But this God, this Lord who has brought His word into our lives so that we should be born again, He loves us.

He cares for us. So add up these qualities which James tabulates, lists about God. He's benevolent.

He's dependable. He's paternal. He's a father.

And all those qualities, when you concentrate them, when you bring them to one particular, causes you to say, that Father God could never want anything evil in your life. As far as working out the source of temptation is concerned, eliminate God. Well then, where do we look? Having eliminated the Lord, we'll come back to the 14th and the 15th verses.

Every man, says the authorized version, every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust is conceived, it bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Listen to that in the NIV. Each one is tempted when by his own evil desire, he's dragged away and enticed. Then after desire is conceived, it gives birth to sin.

And sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death. James eliminates God. But he isolates self.

James is a realist. He will have no truck with some modern psychological principles that tell us as far as sin is concerned, we can't really help it. If we're promiscuous, then we can blame the genes in our own body.

It's not our fault. If we have a temper that is always at flashpoint, we are to be pitied and not blamed. Because it's a fluke of the chemistry of our body.

No. No, says James. As far as temptation and sin is concerned, its origin is within your own personality.

And by God's grace and response to gospel principles, you might, you will, be able to cope with it. I remember talking about trying to absolve yourself, excuse yourself for being responsible for your actions, reading just earlier today of a United States governor who was visiting the inmates of a state penitentiary, of a jail, out there in the southern part of America. And as he was talking to the prisoners, he heard many excuses why these men were behind bars.

One says, well, it's just my environment. That's the reason. I became evil because of my environment.

Another one said, my difficulty is that I had no chance of getting an education or else I'd have been alright. Another one said, it was all my wrong companions. They were responsible.

Finally, the governor came across one young man who said, I am here because I broke the law. It is no one's fault but my own. I am paying my debt to society and trust someday I will be forgiven for wrongdoing.

The governor, the story said, went back to his office and wrote out a pardon. And he put a note on the pardon. I am pardoning John because I don't want him to stay in that prison and corrupt all those innocent people.

James is right when he tells us that temptation has as its origin our own nature. Three things he works out for us from the 14th and 15th verses. Temptation has as its basis sin in my heart.

Verse 14 Each one is tempted when by his own evil desire he is dragged away. The human heart has a basis in sin. And unless you accept this, it's the doctrine of original sin as found in other parts of the New Testament, then man is inexplicable.

Why does man behave as he does? Why do we have all the horrific things that happen in the 20th century? Just because down in the heart of man, it's an unpleasant word, but I don't apologize for using it. There's a sewer. All the immorality, all the muck, all the filth, it's there.

It's what the psychologists would call your ID, from a Latin term. But it doesn't matter what they call it. Jesus, he makes reference to it.

He says that in the heart there is all unpleasantness. It's there, buried, and sometimes not buried far down in your personality. Sin is there.

Its basis within your heart. And not only can you isolate temptation as having a basis in sin in your heart, what's more, your personality, says James, is baited towards sin. Baited towards sin.

Look at the latter part of the 14th verse. Each one is tempted when by his own evil desire he is dragged away and enticed. That's the language of fishermen.

Dragged away. The idea is of putting a worm on your hook to bait your fish. And as the fish rises to the worm, so men rise to temptation.

And as a result, while having a basis in sin, being baited towards sin, they are beaten by sin. That's what the 15th verse says. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin.

And sin when it is full grown, gives birth to death. Here is language that almost has as an example language we use when we talk about the facts of life. Desire.

Conception. Birth. Full grown.

Temptation is the seed. Desire is the womb. Place temptation into the womb of desire and sin is born.

And when sin becomes full grown, it wreaks havoc on the personality. Now that according to the Bible, is how you understand human nature. You may not like it.

It doesn't congratulate man. And as a result, he often gets incensed about biblical truths. But here is the Bible's analysis of what causes us to sin.

We have a bias towards sin. We are baited towards sin. And we are ultimately beaten by sin.

And it's all your fault. It's all my fault. We respond to that sewer within our personality so very often.

So what has James done so far? His teaching is somber, but there's going to be some sunshine. We'll come to that in a moment. He's been delving into this matter as to where temptation originates.

And he has eliminated God. God would not tempt us, for temptation has as its ultimate objective our destruction. And God is a benevolent God.

God is a dependable God. God is a paternal God. He would never break spiritual harm upon us.

So having eliminated God, he isolates temptation within the self, within the heart of the individual human being. Then what does he do? Well, I say he is the sunshine. He is certainly the positive area of his teaching.

From the 19th through to the 21st verses, he advocates action. He advocates action. And once again, because James is a pastor, he's learned from his brother, the Lord Jesus.

He addresses his people in a very affectionate fashion. Verse 19. My beloved brethren, my dear brothers, take note of all this.

This teaching that I'm giving to you, it's terribly terribly important. Now take remedial action. Don't blame God.

Blame yourself. And with God's grace, do something about the sin, the sinful bias that's in your life. Well, how do you understand his advice in those verses from the 19th to the 21st? Let me put it in easily memorable fashion.

James tells us in certain areas to slow down. Then he tells us, using the language of clothing, to strip off. And then thirdly, he tells us to sew in.

First of all, slow down. Come to the 19th verse again. My dear brothers, take note of this.

And now he is giving examples of our sinful nature. And he's referring to anger and the way that some Christian people, remember he is addressing Christians, allow themselves to say things that are cutting and harmful and therefore are positively sinful. So he says, slow down.

Slow down in the area of communication. Perhaps I'm the worst one in the tabernacle to argue this way. But the trouble with some Christians is that they talk too much.

There's a shrewd philosopher by the name of Zeno who said this. We have two ears and one mouth that we may hear more and speak less. Two ears and one mouth.

So our hearing should be twice as much as our speaking. Now remember, James is talking about sinful tendencies and when he thinks in terms of sin, he goes to the mouth. We very often, probably because of the language of the authorized version, think that he's speaking just in terms of immorality.

But you know, there's an immorality within speech when someone is addressing another in a hurtful fashion which seems to be registered in heaven as being equal to physical immorality if not greater in its harmfulness. I say that because later on James is going to give a whole chapter to the tongue and how you can hurt someone with your tongue. And when James speaks of the sewage that is within the human breast, he makes reference first of all to the words that sometimes pour out of the mouth and do harm.

So he says, slow down. Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. Did you hurt somebody with your tongue this week? This last week? You see, sometimes in the evangelical world, we've got things tabulated.

We've got a system. We've got a sort of grade of sins. Pornography is terrible, and indeed it is.

But it seems to me that the way James is arguing here, there are things that are equal to, and perhaps in advance, upon that obvious sin which sometimes we pass over. I let out words, an expression that is calculated to harm. I let go some wrath within me that was not justified.

I hurt another Christian person. And that, says James, is wrong. Terribly wrong.

Harmful. Perhaps even more harmful than pornography inasmuch as you're harming another, whereas the latter harms more the individual. Slow down.

Tribute was once paid to a linguist that he could be silent in seven languages. Sometimes it's necessary for us to study to be silent. Slow down? Ah yes, also strip off.

That's really what he is saying as you come down to the 21st verse. Therefore get rid of all moral filth. And the verb is really undressing.

Like taking off soiled clothes that need to be washed. So make no provision for acting in an immoral fashion. And again, I emphasize this because we sometimes have got this completely wrong in our reading of the New Testament.

James is not only speaking of sexual misdemeanor. He's speaking of the wrong use of the tongue. Don't give yourself fodder to use your tongue in a way that is going to hurt other people.

Make no provision for it. Strip it away. Any gossip, any criticism, all cynicism that is so contrary to the personality of Jesus.

Strip it off. And then, finally, he tells us in a very wonderful way what to do in its place. We are to sow in.

We are to cultivate. We are to humbly accept the word planted in us which can save us. Look at it in the 21st verse of the of the A.V. Here you get a marvelous piece of Jacobean English that only those who have been brought up like I have on the A.V. understand what it's talking about.

But it's beautiful. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness. Superfluity of naughtiness.

And receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. James has in mind the parable of the sower. The sower was the word and the word sprung to life.

And my friend, to cope with temptation, even in the fashion of a quick and a ready tongue, you've got to be into God's word. You've got to be reading God's word. You remember when Jesus, when our blessed Lord was tempted, he put the devil to flight by constantly dipping into the Old Testament and Satan got uncomfortable and he fled away.

The man or woman who is close in his or her pursuit of this word is one who by God's grace is able to control themselves. Is able to overcome that hideous desire that lurks within all our breasts to commit sin. Sin in terms of the wrong use of language of hurting and afflicting other people.

Just to recap, what have we considered this morning? The whole business of temptation. Who's responsible? God isolates, or rather James eliminates God. God doesn't tempt people.

James isolates temptation as coming from ourselves. It's within our nature. But he goes on to advocate ways in which we can overcome temptation and particularly the flashpoint of the temper and wrong words hastily let out which wound.

Says James, pay attention to the teachings of Scripture. Allow the word of God to be sewn into your temperament, into your personality and that will help you to cope and to have control and bring you to that point as he mentions it in the 12th verse where you are an exceedingly happy person for blessed, happy is the man that endures temptations, and trials, for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. May this practical word be of value and of correction to all of us.

Father, all of us here to some degree and maybe during these last few days yielded to temptation in the wrong use of language, in the manifestation of temper, forgive us and help us to apply the corrective of the disciplines of your word that the brother of James our Lord Jesus may be pleased with us as we learn from the lessons that James obviously learnt from him. Amen. Amen.