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“The truth about temptation�
BibleClass.com.au Teaching Series Series: Faith that Works: Studies in the Book of James Part: #5 Main Scripture: James 1:13-20 Teacher: Dr Paul Iles Date: 03.03.2013
Inline, direct scripture quotes are italicised. Block quotes are indented. The New King James Version is used unless otherwise stated. This transcript has undergone minor editing to ensure readability.
The MP3 audio of the study upon which this transcript is based and a learning guide are available from http://bibleclass.com.au/
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Foundational Concepts In James 1, we have been dealing so far with how a Christian can handle the trials and difficulties of life that are intended to test our faith. Particularly, how that God uses them for our good and how our faith is made stronger by them. Trials versus temptations In this study, we come to verse 13 where James starts discussing a different kind of trial. He is no longer talking about trials that are intended to build up our faith. He is instead dealing with temptations that are an enticement to do what is wrong. James 1 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God�; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
By contrast, we noted that verse 2 told us to count it all joy when we fall into many kinds of temptations. That is because the trials that James was referring to there are those trials which are allowed by God for the good of the Christian. We are not talking about the same kind of trial anymore, even though the word is translated in our English Bibles in the same way. These trials are not sent by God, they are not intended for our benefit, and they come from evil sources. God does not tempt
When such temptations to sin come upon us, James tells us to immediately understand and apply two points: 1. Do not say that God caused it, because He did not. Why not? Because He cannot be tempted with evil. He is not attracted to what is wrong in any sense. 2. Neither does God tempt anyone else with evil. That is never part of the way He acts. Why not? It is contrary to His nature. Notice that the emphasis has fallen upon the character of God. That is what this section is going to be built on. It is important to understand that temptation (the enticement to do what is wrong) comes to everybody. Situations in which you are tempted will often arise in your life, and you will feel a certain attraction to them. If one yields to that temptation, then the outcome is sin. Temptation versus sin 14
But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
Again: God is not to blame. This is important, because it is part of human nature to blame someone or something else for our failures. James is insisting that we must not only refrain from yielding to temptation, but we must take personal responsibility for our response to it. Notice those two elements: the temptation and the response: 1. The Temptation: an enticement to do what is wrong which comes from some external source and attracts us, like the bait on a hook which is intended to lure a fish.
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2. The Response: our personal response to the temptation could be likened to reaching out and actually taking the bait, because we are attracted to it. This act does not have an external source - it was the product of our own decision. We are responsible for it. We are drawn to a temptation because there is something inside of us called lust or desire. When lust emerges within you, having seen the bait, but you do not snuff out immediately in order to resist it, then it will give way to action which is sin. To be tempted is normal. But to be drawn into a positive response is sin. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. 15
Having sinned, the result is death. In other words, it is destructive. Notice that this result is the exact opposite to the receipt of the crown of life, reserved for those who endure trials. If a person continually yields to temptation in a practice of sinning, then the ultimate outcome will be complete destruction. Sin unforsaken destroys our spiritual life. 16
Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
Here in verse 16, James is confirming that we must not make any mistakes about the origin of temptation. We must never enter into the blame game, blaming God for temptation or anyone other than ourselves for yielding to it. God’s gifts are our escape As I flagged earlier, the teaching in this section is founded upon the character of God. James is at pains to make us understand the truth about temptation, because he wants to show us what God is like. In verses 17-18 he beautifully sets that out: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. 17
He is God who gives. He is not God who acts in such a way as to give us things that would bring us down or harm us. Rather, it is every “good and perfect” gift that is from God. Therefore, every act that is from above is always good. The title given to God here is, “Father of lights” - one from whom no dimming ever occurs, with respect to the way in which He shines and acts towards the Christian. He never changes His attitude of giving and blessing in any way. God never changes, so we must never claim that He made us act wrongly. He only ever does and only ever will do good things, giving good and perfect gifts. James then proves that this is the very essence of who God is by pointing out, in verse 18, that He even gave us the spiritual life that we have. To be “brought forth” means to be given life. Without any reason outside Himself, without anyone persuading Him to do it, God gave us spiritual life. In all that He is, therefore, He is a good God, capable only of giving good and perfect gifts. His ultimate gift has been the gift of eternal life.
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Putting it into practice So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 19
This is a warning. When you find yourself in these situations, having fallen into sin, be careful what you say. If you speak up hastily, you may find yourself blaming and you’ll be doing wrong. Neither will you be listening to what the Lord has to say to you. Anger (“wrath”) is a problem because, when you are angry, you won’t be thinking rationally, neither will you act in a way that God wants. If you sin, the truth is that you have to put your hand on your mouth and start listening. God was not in this - you were drawn away by your own desires, so to speak up hastily or to get angry will only be running further into the problem. What you need to do is listen to God.
Applying James’ Instructions At this stage, James has therefore given us a very practical framework for dealing with temptation.
Origin of Temptation Firstly, he makes it very clear that these are Satanic - not caused by God. I am reminded of the time that the Lord Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat...” There is no way that Satan wanted to do any good to Peter! He intended to break Peter’s faith and to shut his mouth so that He wouldn’t be a great witness for the Lord. But Jesus’ words are very lovely. He says, “But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail.” The Lord will come into a situation, even when it’s a temptation from Satan, and He brings the good and the perfect gifts. He turns it into a trial and Peter’s faith will be strengthened.
Responding to Temptation Secondly, in these situations, we can be under pressure, stress or strain. We could therefore go wrong either by thinking that God is not fair to us or by being angry at God for allowing it to happen. Both are completely and absolutely wrong thoughts. The wrong response It is never right to blame God and it is never right to argue with God. You may meet some Christians who actually think that they have a right to argue with God when things don’t work out because He didn’t deliver them or they didn’t handle the situation. That is untrue. When things don’t work out, it is never God’s fault. Blame is in the human nature. Adam sinned, and when confronted by God, the first thing he did was blame his wife. We are the same. We’re always looking for some rationale that will make us feel better about ourselves or mitigate our guilt even though it’s our fault. Maybe we blame our environment, our genetics, peer pressure, or even God Himself.
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That is normal human nature, but it is not the way that the Christian ought to understand things at all. By understanding the basic components of sin, how that external temptation only gives birth to sin when we are lead away and enticed by our own desires, we understand where the real problem lies.
The right response The Christian ought to know that we have a sinful, fallen nature. Therefore the truth is that any of us are capable of anything. The older you get, the more you discover how bad you are. As that revelation comes to you more strongly over time, you realise that inside of you there is no good thing. Romans 6-7 teaches that. When you understand this about yourself, certain outcomes follow: 1. You never trust yourself again. Therefore you learn to completely avoid situations that you know will lead you into wrong. 2. You will trust the Lord instead when you’re in temptation. When you feel the pull of temptation, and the arousal of your sinful nature, you cry out to the Lord lest you slip any further and fall into sin. 3. You learn to stop looking down on other people who fall, on account of what you know about yourself. Your view of others With respect to this third point, if you look at somebody and scoff at their weakness, you are really saying that you’re above such actions yourself. We must understand that this is not so. It is also important that, whether or not we can relate to the weaknesses of our brothers and sisters, we sympathise and empathise with them so that we can pray for them. There must be compassion and a preparedness to help concerning such matters. Such compassion begins with an understanding of the fact that you or I could be in the same situation, but for the grace of God. Your view of yourself Concerning the first point - trusting yourself - Paul makes the following comment, having spoken of certain people from the Old Testament who did fall into sin as a result of temptation: 1 Corinthians 10 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
Do not trust yourself! Certainly, don’t read about or observe the trials and the failures of others and think for a moment that you are better than that. This is a stern warning. Your view of God But then Paul gives us a source of real strength: No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. 13
Firstly, there is no temptation that any of us experience which has not been experienced before. Life is like that - everything repeats itself. Secondly, God is faithful. Temptations are proof of the
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way in which the circumstances of our life change, but God does not change. He will never allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able to endure. The final statement is not a guarantee that you will totally avoid the temptation. It concerns the fact that God will ensure that you are able to endure it, so as not to respond with sin. This is a statement of scripture that a Christian must lay hold of in their darkest moments. In a moment where you feel as though you’re dangling over a cliff, hanging on with a white-knuckled grip, but slowly slipping, almost to the point of having to let go... Don’t forget the scripture. He will not allow you to be tempted more than you can bear! God has made a provision and has given you an ability that is right by your side. You do not have to sin against Him. This is not to say that it isn’t very easy to sin in such circumstances. Think of Job, for example. You could never look down you nose at him - I certainly doubt we could have handled it. He lost health, wealth, family, friends, standing, acceptance and even God seemed to be hidden from him. What a trial! And yet Job wasn’t even tempted beyond what he could bear. Somehow, incredibly, he came through it. There is always a way of escape. If you are in a situation which brings you to your wits end, therefore, you must not sin and then claim you could do nothing else. You are denying the truth that God is an unchanging Father of Light, who always, only shines blessing upon you. Learning to wait What you ought to have done, according to James, is to be slow to act. It’s like standing at a crossroads, not knowing where to go. Are you going to run in a random direction right away? No! You must wait. Be slow to speak and slow to wrath. Wait for direction. So what do I do when I’m at wits end corner? Nothing. That is our first lesson: wait. Learning to use God’s provisions Secondly, we must always look at what we’ve got in our hand already, because God has often given the answer to us but we’ve not taken advantage of it. Moses is a great example on this point. He was given the impossible task of delivering the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. Moses was flabbergasted and confused. God was telling him to go and stand before the world’s most powerful monarch who wipes people off the face of the earth whenever it suits him - a man who already has it in for Moses. It’s impossible! Moses has left his palace, killed one of his people and now he is supposed to go back? How? Amidst Moses’ conviction that he was not up to the task, God asked Him what he had in his hand. It was a staff (a stick). God told Moses to throw it on the ground and it turned into a serpent. That staff, which God knew was already in Moses’ hand, was sufficient for Moses to stand before Pharaoh and to show him all the signs and wonders of God. That staff went into the river Nile and it became blood. That staff hovered over the Read Sea and the waters parted. That staff was already in Moses’ hand.
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Putting it all together I want to say this very definitely: never go into sin and then rationalise it afterwards. Never say, “It’ll be okay” or, “It wasn’t my fault.” No, it is not okay. Yes, it was your fault. You should have been quick to hear and slow to speak, realising that going your own way will not work out the righteousness of God. You should have understood that God never subjects a Christian to tempting in order that they will be lead into sin or broken. He always provides a way of escape so that you are able to bear it. No, not so that things go away immediately. The point, when it comes to the life of a Christian, is that we should endure. Through endurance comes maturity and real strength so that we can get through real life without being blown around like a wave of the sea that just goes with the wind instead of being able to stand up for itself.
Can I stop being tempted? When I was younger, I had a lot of trouble with the fact that I would often have the desire to do what was wrong. But that desire to do what is wrong will be with you all your life. So long as you’re living in this world, with this body, you have an old nature that fights against your new nature. Your new nature will not be perfected in you until you’re fully redeemed in Heaven. But you must understand this: the presence of your old nature, which manifests itself through the desires and feelings which are attracted to what is wrong is not sin. Once you understand the mechanics of verse 15 which we touched on earlier, you realise that it is not the desire itself, but rather the action. It is the response to the desire; the outworking of the desire; the positive action - that is the sin. You sin when you give in. Before I understood this, I was plagued by guilt, but the realisation that you can walk away, do something else or think on something else without falling into sin is a great blessing and that is the distinction which James makes in this passage.
God Now that we have the whole picture in our minds, we can return more fully to the matter of the character of God, and how that He fits into this issue of temptations. God’s character is primarily holiness. He cannot do what is wrong, nor is He tempted by what is wrong. Therefore He does not tempt others with what is wrong. On the contrary, James made the assertion, as we saw, that God only gives good and perfect gifts. Not only is He good and perfect, but He gives gifts which are consistent with who He is. The statement is divided in two parts. The first, “good” refers specifically to the act of giving. He gives because He is good. The second, “perfect,” refers to the gifts themselves. They are perfect. By contrast, Satan will never give a perfect gift. He is not good that He may give perfect gifts. In fact, James has been telling us that these temptations which are such a problem for us, which he is instructing us about, their source is Satanic! They stand in contrast to what God would do. God’s intentions and motives are always for our blessing. Satan’s intentions and motives are always, only to bring us down. Add to all of that this truth that God does not change in His character, therefore He does not
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change in His attitude or His actions towards us and you have a truth which is a great blessing and a tremendous encouragement. He is the Father of lights. He never stops shining His goodness on us. There is no shadow or dimming caused by His turning. The ultimate proof of this has come to us by God’s act of giving us new life. It was His good pleasure to cleanse us from our sin, to make us one of His children and to bring us into His family. This is a birth that we never had - He did it. We are saved because He saved us. We are born again because He gave us new life. We did not persuade Him, nor did we earn it. This is what He is like He did it with no obligation, need nor pressure from anyone else. He has blessed us unspeakably. As a result of this, we have become firstfruits. The firstfruits are the first sign of life. The gospel has taken effect, there is life there, and there is a promise of more to come. God who gives has only begun to give and He will give yet more. He saved you and He will go on blessing you by a whole process of giving that has only just begun. Salvation is not a one off process after which God forget you and you forget Him. Never. Salvation is a process that has a definite beginning, but also an ongoing component. He saved you and He goes on saving you. It is an ongoing process of blessing from the Father of light. The practical application of this must involve a very definite mindset on the part of the Christian. We must never, ever think that an enticement to do wrong is God’s doing. These verses tell us that we ought, rather, to understand ourselves and take responsibility for our sin. God is never against us. He is with us. If God is with us, who can be against us? See you in the next study.
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