Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

This is the first message in a brand new series called What Jim Said. Over the next four weeks, we’re going to be exploring the New Testament book of James.

The book of James was written by…you guessed it…James. James was the brother of Jesus. He grew up with Jesus. He and Jesus shared the same dinner table. They played ball. They did everything that brothers do. That gives James a pretty incredible perspective on who Jesus is and what Jesus wants to do in us and through us.

But James didn’t start out as a believer. In fact, he started out as a man who absolutely did NOT believe that Jesus was the Son of God.

In fact, check out these verses from Mark 3. “Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” (Mark 3:20-21, NIV)

At the very time when Jesus’ ministry was picking up steam…people were coming from everywhere to see Him, to hear Him, to experience Him…his family that he was crazy. They thought He had lost his mind. And we have every reason to believe that Jesus’ brother, James, was there. He was the oldest of Jesus’ brothers. (Actually, James was only the half-brother of Jesus because of the whole virgin birth thing.) Being the oldest of Jesus’ brothers, James may have very well been the one that organized this whole thing.

James may have called a family meeting, and said, “There goes Jesus, again. That guy is not playing with a full deck. But the worst part is that He’s embarrassing our family with all this nonsense. Let’s go get Him and bring Him back home. We’ve got to put a stop to this.”

That’s where James got his start. But then, something incredible happens after the resurrection of Christ.

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul tells us that after His resurrection, Jesus, “appeared to James.” (1 Corinthians 15:7, NIV)

That’s the point where things changed for James. All of sudden, Jesus wasn’t just the guy he grew up with. All of a sudden, Jesus wasn’t the black sheep of the family. He wasn’t an embarrassment. He wasn’t a lunatic. He was the Christ. The Messiah. The Son of God.

James’ life completely changed after this encounter. James went from a skeptical unbeliever to one of the primary leaders in the church in Jerusalem. He wrote this book of James that we’re going to explore. And then, he was killed for his faith.

The ancient historian, Josephus, tells us that James was martyred around 62 AD. But the ancient church historian, Eusebius, tells us that James was given the opportunity to recant his faith. He was given the chance to reject Jesus…but he would not do it. When he would not recant, he was thrown to the ground from the pinnacle of the temple. Then he was beaten with clubs and rocks until he was dead.

James went from skeptic, to believer, to church leader, to biblical writer, to martyr. That is the kind of incredible transformation that Jesus does in our lives.

If you’ve ever read this book of James, you know that it is some of the most direct, clear, hard-hitting teaching in the entire Bible. This series is going to pull no punches because the book of James pulls no punches. This is a tough, gut-check book, so this will be a tough, gut-check series.

Let’s pray, and then we’ll begin to listen to some of the tough things that Jim said.

“Watch it.” That’s one of the first things that James tells us in his letter. Watch it. Watch out for it. Always be aware of it.

The “it” that we’re talking about is temptation. Today, as we start exploring the book of James, we’re going to talk straight up about how we handle temptation.

We’re going to kick off this series in James 1, starting in verse 12.

James said, “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord 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 person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire 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 and sisters. 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 firstfruits of all he created.” (James 1:13-18, NIV)

There is so much here, so let’s go back and let’s unpack this.

Go back to verse 12. “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord 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… (James 1:12-13, NIV)

The first thing we have to understand about temptation is that God does not tempt you, but He does test you. God cannot be tempted by evil. He doesn’t tempt anyone to do evil. God does not tempt you, but He absolutely tests you. In fact, if you have a faith that is untested, you don’t have a real, genuine faith.

The Bible gives us a ton of examples of God testing His people. In Genesis 22, the Bible says, “Some time later God tested Abraham.” (Genesis 22:1a, NIV)

In 2 Chronicles 32, the Bible says, “…God left [Hezekiah] to test him and to know everything that was in his heart.” (2 Chronicles 32:31a, NIV)

In Exodus 16, the Bible shows us that God tested the entire nation of Israel. “Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.” (Exodus 16:4, NIV)

In 1 Chronicles 29, David said, “I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity.” (1 Chronicles 29:17a, NIV)

God tests His people. But He does not tempt His people.

Go back and look at what James said again. “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord 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… (James 1:12-13, NIV)

God tests people, but He does not tempt people. God is holy, meaning that He is completely separated from anything that is evil. He is not evil. He cannot be touched by evil. And He does not tempt us toward evil.

But what James is really getting at here is the universal tendency that people have always had. The tendency to place blame.

James was writing to people who were somehow blaming God for their temptations. And he tells them point blank, “It’s not God’s fault. If you are succumbing to temptation, it’s your fault.”

In verses 13-14, James says, “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.” (James 1:13-14, NIV)

You can’t blame God for this. James says the blame lies squarely on you and me. It’s interesting that he doesn’t even blame the devil.

A lot of times, we give the devil way too much credit. How many times have you heard someone say, “The devil made me do it?” We operate like the devil is on the same level as God. He is not. He is a created being. He’s not omnipresent. He can’t be in multiple places at one time. He is a created being. Now, we know from Scripture that Satan has a demonic following. We don’t know how many demons there actually are. But however many there are, they still can’t be everywhere at once.

I’m not saying that we never come under attack from demonic forces. We absolutely do. I’m not saying that the devil doesn’t tempt us. In a couple of places, the Bible refers to Satan as “the tempter.” But the point still stands that, a lot of times, we give the devil way too much credit.

But the thing is, regardless of the source of the temptation, the result is the temptation is on us. If we allow that temptation to lead us into sin, that’s not God’s fault. That’s not the devil’s fault. That’s our fault.

But people have always tried to shift the blame. In Genesis 3, when the first sin was ever committed, Adam and Eve tried to shift the blame.

God planted a tree in the Garden of Eden and said, “Leave it alone. You can eat from any other tree you want. Just leave this one alone.”

Of course they didn’t do that. They directly disobeyed God and ate the fruit from that tree.

Starting in verse 11, God asked Adam, “Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

Just stop right there for a second. Can we all agree that Adam is not too bright? The dude blamed his wife. Guys, this is ALWAYS a bad idea! If you’re a loser, then man up and say, “I’m a loser.” But instead Adam says, “It’s her fault. Women…what are you gonna do?” He took no responsibility for his sin, but he blamed his wife instead.

But that’s not all. He didn’t stop there. Adam didn’t just blame Eve. He also blamed God. He told God, “The woman YOU put here with me gave me that fruit.”

God, if you hadn’t done that…if you had just left my ribs alone…if you wouldn’t have created this woman, I wouldn’t be in this mess.

Now, go to the next verse. “Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:11b-13, NIV)

God hears all the excuses from Adam. Then He turned to Eve. She blamed the devil. It’s the first-ever “the devil made me do it.”

So in this one scene…when the very first sin was ever committed…we see people blaming each other, blaming the devil, and even blaming God. And when people sin today, we still see them blaming each other, blaming the devil and even blaming God. Nothing has changed.

In Proverbs 19, the Bible says, “A person’s own folly leads to their ruin, yet their heart rages against the LORD.” (Proverbs 19:3, NIV)

Our own choices, our own folly, our own sinful decisions wreck our lives…but we shift blame. It’s their fault. It’s the devil’s fault. Or like this verse from Proverbs says, it’s God’s fault.

We see people blaming God all the time. For example, people blame their sinfulness on genetics. “I was born this way. God made me this way. It can’t be a sin if I was created this way.”

And then when things come crashing down, we can’t understand why. Why was I born this way? Why did God make me this way?

Instead of blaming God, we need to push the pause button and understand that everyone has different desires and proclivities and temptations. What tempts you does not tempt me. What tempts me does not tempt you.

But just because you are born with a bent toward certain temptations doesn’t mean you were created to follow through on them. It doesn’t mean that God hard-wired you to sin. It doesn’t mean that you were created to live out your every temptation, regardless how natural it feels.

God does not tempt you. The Bible says it clearly. We each have different desires. We are all tempted by different sins. But that does not mean that God “made me that way.” It doesn’t mean that we blame genetics, which is a roundabout way of blaming God. It doesn’t mean that we just surrender to whatever our temptations are.

We will fall. We will fail. We will never be perfect. We will sin. But when we place blame instead of taking responsibility, we are acting like a four-year-old.

A few weeks ago, I was at home and I found that a wall in our hallway was covered with stickers. They were Brock’s stickers, so I immediately knew who the culprit was. I called for Brock and then I asked him, “Did you do this?”

He said, “No.”

“You didn’t do this?”

“No.”

“These are your stickers. How did they get all over the wall?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did they just appear on the wall out of nowhere?”

“Yes.”

We had a LONG talk that night about lying, let me tell you. Brock is four. He knew he was in trouble, so he went fishing for excuses. The problem is that he got in more trouble for making excuses than he did if he would have just fessed up.

Some of us never outgrow this. It’s not your fault. It’s never your fault. You’ve got an explanation for everything. You’ve always got someone else to blame. But it’s never, ever your fault. Benjamin Franklin said, “He that is good for making excuses is seldom good at anything else.”

You’ll never make any progress in your struggle with temptation if you keep shifting blame for your failures.

James lays out it with incredible clarity. “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.” (James 1:13-14, NIV)

There’s no blame shifting. There’s no blaming others. Or the devil. Or genetics. Or our situation. Or God.

Let’s just be brutally honest. Guys, God didn’t make that naked woman appear on your computer screen or your iPhone.

Ladies, God didn’t put you in bed with your boyfriend.

God didn’t make you lie on your taxes. God didn’t make you criticize another believer. God didn’t make you proud and boastful. God didn’t make you belittle your children. God didn’t make you lose your temper. God didn’t make you scheming and deceitful and untrustworthy.

God does not tempt us, and God cannot be blamed when we fail. But like I said earlier, while God does not tempt us, He does test us. Those can be easily confused. The difference between testing and temptation is that testing wants you to succeed. Temptation wants you to fail.

When James says that, “each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed,” he is using fishing terms. The original Greek language here is language normally used for fishing. Temptation baits us, but it’s up to us whether we bite or not. When we choose to bite, we are hooked and it reels us in. But this isn’t catch and release. This is for keeps.

Look at the next verse. In James 1:15, James said, “Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” (James 1:15, NIV)

This is a deadly process. It starts with a glance. A flirtation. But if we leave temptation unchecked, things quickly escalate. Temptation gives birth to sin. And if that sin goes unchecked, it brings death.

We see that process play out all the time. For example, no one ever plans on adultery. On their wedding day, they look into the eyes of their groom or their bride and they say, “I want you. Forever. No one else.” And they mean it.

But then life happens. Things get busy. Crazy things happen. Years go by. And the relationship is allowed to drift.

Meanwhile, there is another person who makes them feel more alive than they have felt in years. Instead of being a chauffeur for the kids or the laundry folder or the garbage-taker-outer like they are at home. This new person views them as different. This person sees them as vibrant and exciting.

And the person leaves these feelings unchecked, and things continue to escalate. And the desire gives birth to sin. Sin they never saw coming. Sin they never believed would happen. Sin that was not even on their radar at one time. But here they are. And that sin leads to death. Death of the relationship. Death of the marriage. Death of the family.

And it all started with a glance. A flirtation. A rush of adrenaline.

That’s how all temptation starts. That’s why the Bible says things like it does in 1 Corinthians 6. “Flee from sexual immorality.” (1 Corinthians 6:18a, NIV)

Don’t linger. Don’t hang around. Don’t keep going back for another glance. Another look. Get away. And don’t walk away, either. Run. Sprint. Flee. You are flirting with death, here. Run!

And that doesn’t just apply to sexual temptation. You could apply that to any temptation. The longer you hang around, the more the lure dangles in front of you, the more likely you are to bite. And when you bite, you’re hooked. And when you’re hooked, you’re dead.

When I go fishing, I throw a lure into the water and try to make it look as lifelike as possible. I want to fool that fish. I want to deceive them into thinking that this lure is actually food.

In verse 16 of James 1, James tells us, “Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.” (James 1:16, NIV)

Don’t be deceived. That’s what temptation is. At its core, it is deception.

When you’re tempted, stop for a split second. Push the fast-forward button in your mind. Think about where this ends up. Think about what you’re risking. Think about everything you stand to lose.

Temptation will tell you not to do that. Temptation will say, “This will be awesome now. This will feel amazing now. This is going to be so much fun now. Look at what you’ll receive now.”

But temptation will never tell you what it will cost you later. Temptation will never tell you how this will cost you your reputation. Or your family. Or your job. Or your witness for Christ. It’s all focused on the now. It’s all deception.

But now, let me give you some good news. In 1 Corinthians 10, the Bible says, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13, NIV)

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. In other words, you’re not the first person to have this temptation. And you won’t be the last. It’s not unique to you. It’s happened before. It will happen again.

But God is faithful. Even when we are faithless, God is faithful. And He will not let us be tempted beyond what we can handle. He always provides a way out. A method of escape. Always.

And this goes back to the truth that we’ve been talking about all morning. God does not tempt you, but He does test you.

Do you trust Him enough to obey Him, even when you’re tempted to go your own way?

Do you trust Him enough to believe that His way is better for your future, even if your temptation seems better in your present?

Do you trust that He has your best interests in mind when He tells you to avoid the sins that tempt you?

Do you trust that His Word is more true and reliable than your passion? Your lust? Your desires? Your temptations?

Do you believe that God is able to give you more than your temptation ever could? Everyday temptation offers you an apple, when God has already given you an orchard.

It comes down to this. James 1:17, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17, NIV)

Every good and perfect gift comes from God. Do we believe that God has something better in store for us if we trust Him? Do we trust that God does not change? His will does not change? His promises do not change?

Or do we want to cash it all in for our current temptation?

God has promised that He will bless us if we are generous. But that blessing seems to take too long. Temptation says be selfish now.

God has promised that if we trust Him in faith, He will come through. But that seems too dangerous. Temptation says play it safe.

God has promised that sex within marriage will be more amazing and fulfilling than we could ever imagine. But that seems old-fashioned. Temptation says get it on now.

We could go on and on. It comes down to this. Are we going to trust that the promises of God are true and unchanging? Or are we going to trust in the instant gratification of temptation?

It’s a life or death decision. God has promised life. Temptation leads to death.

Last verse in our text. James 1:18, “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.” (James 1:18, NIV)

Here’s how we know we can trust God even when temptation seems to be the better choice right now. Because God chose us. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth.

The word of truth is Jesus. Here’s how we know that.

In John 1:1, here’s what the Bible says about Jesus. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1, NIV)

And in John 14, Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6, NIV)

The Bible tells us that Jesus is the Word. It also tells us that Jesus is truth.

So when James says that God chose to give us birth through the word of truth, he is telling us that God gave us a new life through Jesus.

What does this have to do with our response to temptation? Everything. We have and we will fall to temptation. But our hope is in the Word of Truth. Because of Jesus, we are made new. We are the firstfruits of creation, meaning that we’ve been made new.

But some of you are trying to have it both ways. You call yourself a Christian. You come to church every week. You sing the songs. You take communion. You listen to the sermon. You shake my hand on the way out…and all the while you have no intention of dealing with the temptation in your life.

There are young guys in this room who lift then hands in worship on Sunday after they put that same hand on their girlfriend’s body on Saturday night.

There are girls who closed their eyes in worship today who will later allow the eyes of some jerk to see their naked body.

There are men in this room who brought their family here today like everything is fine, but later on he will blow up, lash out, or just completely ignore that same family.

There are ladies in this room who have used their mouth to sing praise to God and later today will use that same mouth to criticize our church or run down another believer.

This garbage has got to stop. We are the church! This isn’t a game. This isn’t just some social event. This isn’t a country club. The church is the gathering of the people of God, who have been saved by God, and commit to live holy lives for God.

In Romans 6, Paul writes some of the most direct words about temptation and sin in the entire Bible. This is a little long, but because I believe in the power of the Word of God, I’m just going to read. And I’m going to trust God to use His Word to just cut us open.

Romans 6, starting in the first verse. “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.” (Romans 6:1-14, NIV)

Mike Edmisten

Tags: James, sin, temptation, What Jim Said