Blessed Endurance: Part 3

As we look at loving God under trials in this series, we have seen in this study so far in verse 2 through 8, this is just an update for you that have not been with us, especially the

Kline Deans, they've been very busy in Florida. James is speaking in how we as Christians and followers of the

Lord Jesus Christ can profit from our trials. That's in verses 2 through 8, and then in verses 9 through 11, he gives to us the biblical perspective, the rich in the perspective, for the reason that trials make all believers equally dependent on God and bring them to the same level with each other by keeping them from becoming preoccupied with earthly things.

That's pretty much what James is talking about there. Then in verses 12 through 18,

James tells us how we can love God under trials. That's what we're looking at at present.

Then in verses 19 through 20, he gives the qualities that's needed in trials. We're going in that direction.

We'll be looking at that. And then the conclusion, of course, is the application in verses 21 through 27,

James gives to us its practical application. You notice that in those verses.

Everything he has been speaking about previously in the entire chapter, namely, be doers of the

Word and not hearers only. That is so important. We need always to apply that in every time we hear a message that we are obeying what the

Scripture says. It's what God says, and God honors His Word. So when we obey it,

He blesses us. And as we look together as we study the

Word this morning and as we study it together in this series, this is an all -important subject we're covering today.

We're going to be looking at how we as children of the living God can overcome temptation. I'm going to do everything I can to help you in these areas.

I'm stepping on my own toes this morning, so we all face temptations, right? It's different than trials.

We'll be looking at that, and we'll be looking at what James has to say.

So please follow along with me as I read. In James chapter 1, we'll be looking at...

I want to start with verse 12. We covered verse 12 for the past two weeks, but verse 12 is a very important verse to not only end at, but to start, to begin with.

So here are the words of the living God, starting at verse 12, and I'm going to stop at verse 15.

We're not going to cover all this territory today, but we'll do what we can. Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the

Lord has promised to those who love him. 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, but each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.

In verse 15, then, notice that as a transition there, then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death.

Very, very strong, powerful words of the living God. May God bless

His word to our ears, to our hearts this morning. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, give us ears to hear, only

You can, to hear what Your Spirit says to the church. Give us a heart to perceive and to understand,

Lord, Your holy word, so that we may be doers of the word and not hearers only.

Or if we're only being hearers only, we deceive ourselves. So, Father, we need the light of the truth this morning, as well as the heat of Your Holy Spirit.

Lord, we need both. We need light, but we need heat. So, Father, for the purpose that we may glorify

You and see Your Son, Jesus, who is glorified and who is at Your right hand, make an intercession forever for His people.

So, Father, we grant this, we pray this morning, that our desire and our number one desire is, oh, that we would see

Jesus and Him only and hide this preacher behind the cross. And I pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen. A man was on a diet and struggling. We've all been there, haven't we?

He may be there today. And he said he had to go downtown. As he started out, just remembered that his route would take him by the donut shop.

Yep. You've been there. That's right. That story's about all of us, isn't it? As he got closer to the donut shop, he thought that a cup of coffee would hit the spot along with the donuts.

And then he remembered his diet. Okay. I got him on a diet. That's when he started praying.

And guess what he prayed? Lord, if You want me to stop for a donut and coffee, let there be a parking place in front of the shop.

Boy, he's saying some prayer there, isn't he? Sure enough, he said,

I found a parking place right in front of the donut place on my seventh time around the block.

So you get the story. As Robert Orban from Reader's Digest said, most people want to be delivered from temptation, but like it to keep in touch.

How true that is. Well, please allow me to state the obvious here and drive home the point.

You and I will not make it as a Christian if we do not learn to overcome temptation.

That's plain and simple. We must be overcomers. And that's what

Jesus said. Chapter and verse, you bet. I've got the chapter and verse for it.

If you think about what Jesus said in Luke, the Gospel of Luke chapter 8 verses 11 through 15, in the parable of the soils, some people call it the parable of the sower, but it's actually the parable of the soils.

Jesus taught that some make a profession of faith and begin to show signs of growth, but in the heat of the trials or more subtle thorns, worldly desires cause plants to die.

As I understand that parable, it's only those plants that endure and produce fruit that represent true believers.

Because the enemy is so subtle and strong and the lusts of the flesh are so powerful, and they are, we must learn to recognize, and this is important, we must learn to recognize and overcome temptation.

If we don't, James tells us plainly, we are on the path that will lead to death. Considering the practical wisdom of James, and James has much wisdom, there's wisdom that's there.

I think that as he wrote this, I would presume this, that James may have in mind the graphic story found in Proverbs chapter seven, that the young man lacking discernment and sense and eventually succumbs to the woman's enticement, and his first mistake was what?

That he passed near the corner she lived. That was his first mistake.

That he was in the wrong place. He was on the wrong path. Proverbs 7, 8 says this.

Passing along the street near her corner, and he took the path to her house.

Against the wise advice, previously in chapter four, verse 14 and 15,

Solomon says this. Do not enter the path of the wicked. And he goes on to say, and do not walk in the way of evil.

The path walking. Avoid it. Do not travel on it.

Turn away from it. And pass on. You see, that was the wise advice that was given in chapter four.

Then you come to chapter seven. He's following, he's on the wrong path. This simple -minded, undiscerning man put himself right in the harlot's place.

To put it as simple as I can, fleeing immorality starts by not being in the harlot's neighborhood at night.

You see, as luck, some people would say, would have it. Notice I said luck, not providence, because God would not lead that person into that temptation.

Lead us not into temptation. It's the opposite. So, it's providence at that very moment, but she happens to come out of her door to entice him further like bait.

A hook that's hidden and a trap that is not seen. As further, so -called, luck would have it, her husband has gone on a long trip, just as it was the story of Joseph in Genesis chapter 39.

When Joseph was tempted by Potiphar's wife. Now, I find this interesting, when I was thinking of Proverbs seven and Genesis chapter 39, that it's interesting to note that if you compare

Joseph's temptations up against the simpleton in Proverbs chapter seven, there's some very interesting thoughts.

One fell into the temptation, one was running into the temptation, you see. Joseph fell into the temptation, it came to him, where the man in chapter seven goes into the temptation.

You see, there's a difference. And also, both end up very differently.

Joseph's story ends with life everlasting, blessing even though he was jailed and put in prison,

God still blessed him for his righteous choice, that he feared God and ran from the immorality, even though she lied on him and put him in jail, he was suffering for the cause of righteousness.

The man in chapter seven was a fool. He didn't fall, but he went right into the temptation as a very gullible, undiscerning man was.

So in Proverbs seven, ends very tragic in death. And it is described in verse 23, in Proverbs seven, it says this, till an arrow struck his liver as a bird hastens to the snare, notice that, the snare.

He did not know it would cost his life. This is so important.

Notice how Proverbs seven, 26, 27 concludes. And now this is very sobering.

But if you're here listening, this is a very powerful verse to remember.

For many, many, not a few, many are the victims she has cast down.

And numerous, numerous are all her slain.

Her house is the way to hell, descending to the chambers of death.

What a sober warning the word of God gives in such wisdom. Now, brethren, James gives us a wise and more powerful strategy in a sense for overcoming the deadly lures of temptation.

Now this morning, I would like for us to focus on three important words, but I'm not gonna be able to hit all these points.

I'm gonna hit, because of the Lord's table and because of our time, I want to hit just one point and there's gonna be plenty for us to see.

So the three words I'd like to set before you, if you've taken notes, this is a very important, very important message to take notes, not because I'm preaching, but because of God's word and because each and every one of us will face temptation.

We've already faced temptations, but you're gonna face more temptations. And I wanna give you some wisdom from the word of God this morning to help you overcome these temptations.

So number one, we're gonna consider over to overcome temptation, we must number one, recognize, recognize first its source.

We must see its source. Second, Lord willing, we'll look at these other two next

Lord's day. Its force and third, its course. The source, the force, the course.

I think that's easy for us to remember. But the source has a lot to tell us.

So let's look at, let's look at this as we, by God's help, unpack its source.

To overcome temptation, we must recognize its source. Verse 12, gives to those who endures temptation, as we looked at as a very important verse because it's the promise, better yet, in that verse, the translation in verse 12, blessed is the man who endures temptation.

And when he has been approved, in other words, he passes the test, he will receive the crown of life which the

Lord has promised to those who love him. That is God's people that love

God. It is very important to understand here, the translator's words are important, especially the word tempted, tempted.

Now we do know, if you have the translation, endures temptations, that word temptation there in verse 12 is better translated trials, okay?

It's very important because last week, in the last two weeks, clearly, we looked at that, right?

God, he tested or tried the believer's faith, such as Abraham, and God does not tempt anyone to sin.

He was not tempting them, he was trying them. There is a vast difference. God tests or tried

Abraham, as well as he tried Job by allowing

Satan to afflict him with all of his trials. Now, affliction is not temptation.

God allows afflictions to come upon his children, and for several reasons.

That's another message altogether, but we're looking at temptation. So as we looked in our study in verse 12, in the past two

Lord's Days, services God both tested both the righteous man, as we looked at, but he also will test the wicked.

Now, how do we know this? Because scripture says it, that's why. It's not because Pastor David says it, it's because scripture says it.

To reveal their respective characters. Aren't you glad? God knows how to test the righteous and the wicked.

He never does tempt, period. But he does test. Psalm chapter 11, verses four through seven says this.

The Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold.

And interesting, note this. It says, his eyelids, his eyelids, test the sons of men.

Again, then it says, the Lord tests the righteous, but the wicked and the one who loves violence, his soul hates.

Upon the wicked, he will rain coals. Fire and brimstone. You know, you've heard people say, are you a fire and brimstone?

I've had people ask me that. Are you a fire and brimstone preacher? It's almost like downing me. And I say, yes, I am. Because that's what scripture says.

There is fire and brimstone there. But right here, it says that he will rain coals, fire and brimstone, and a burning wind shall be their portion of their cup.

That's the end of the wicked. There is torment. Verse seven, for the

Lord is righteous. He loves the righteousness. You see, God does not delight in the death of the wicked.

And it says right here, he loves righteousness. And then his countenance beholds the upright.

Now, here's another verse of scripture that goes along with the testings of the Lord. Exodus 16, four, then the

Lord said to Moses, behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. Now, as I wrote that down,

I said, it's interesting that God rains coals and fire and brimstone on the wicked and a burning wind.

And here, God rains bread from heaven for his people. That's a big difference. A fire and brimstone versus bread.

I don't know about you, I want the bread. Well, he gave them manna, didn't he? God did.

And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota. That's what scripture says. Every day that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.

And you know the story, they did not do it. They were very greedy. And then the manna was,

I want to say that God gave them so much quail, but at one time that there was maggots.

So they failed the test. 40 years, they was going in the wilderness in circles. Well, with God's people, the purpose of God's test is always to refine faith like gold and silver.

How we know that? Some, not because of the song. Actually, the song that we sung, it's talked about that.

But why the word of God says it? Because that hymn is based upon the word of God. Psalm 66, 10 and 12 says, for you, oh

God, have tested us. You have refined us as silver is refined.

And then he says, you brought us into the net. You laid affliction on our backs.

See, God can lay afflictions on his people's back. Verse 12, and you have caused men to ride over our heads.

And then it says, a wonderful song was based upon this verse. We went through the fire and through the water, but you brought us out to rich fulfillment.

Don't you love that? The end result. God always delivers his people, always.

It's in his time. Sometimes we think, Lord, where's your deliverance here? And sometimes it is in death because death actually is just leaving this life and death brings us right into the arms of Jesus.

That's deliverance. Sometimes he chooses to deliver here, sometimes he doesn't, but I think there is a deliverance passing from this life to that eternal life.

So there's no losing as a child of God. You win. If you're not on the

Lord's side, you lose. But here's another verse in the New Testament. That's a couple

Old Testament verses. 1 Peter 4, verses 12 through 14 says, the

Apostle Peter says, beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial. There it is, trial, which is to try you.

You notice those words, trying and testing as though some strange thing happened to you.

He's saying that because he doesn't want people to think this is not abnormal. It is normal in the

Christian life to go through this. See, and the more we realize that, the better off we'll be.

Elizabeth Elliot said that. She says, suffering in the Christian life is normal, period. And how true.

Verse 13, but rejoice. Now he gets this language from Jesus because he heard Jesus talk about this on the

Sermon on the Mount. To the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings and that when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad, listen to this language, with exceeding joy.

That's the way Jesus spoke. Say, and then he says, if you're reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

What a blessing. On their part, he is blasphemed, but on your part, he is glorified.

Isn't that beautiful? So that's what we're looking at. But temptation is completely different.

The dwelling of sin and the existence of Satan and every test may as become a temptation.

It may become into a temptation, so we must be careful. Very important to recognize this because in verse 13 of James 1, when he says, let no one say when he's tempted,

I'm tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil nor does he himself tempt anyone. This is basically a pivotal verse because the focus of the chapter turns from trials to temptation.

You see, the focus is a shift and he wants us to know that.

So James' point in verse 13 is that every difficult circumstance that enters a believer's life can either strengthen you or if you obey

God, remain confident in his care, endure to the end, or it can become a solicitation.

Now, I looked up that word solicitation. What does it mean? It means importunity.

It means an urgency to evil if the believer chooses instead to doubt

God and disobey His Word. You see? So in other words, let me pack that up a little bit.

What are you saying? If a believer responds in faithful obedience to God's Word, he successfully endures, or should

I say faithfully endures, a trial, and if he succumbs to it in the flesh, doubting

God and disobeying, he is tempted to sin. You see, what is it?

It depends on your response. It's a choice that you and I will make.

I can guarantee you that. Right response always leads to spiritual endurance, righteousness and wisdom, and other blessings.

That's verses 2 through 12. We looked at that. The wrong response leads to sin and death, and that's found in verse 15.

So in his first letter to the church, the Apostle Paul makes it very clear that temptation is common to man.

It's common. And God always makes a way of escape, doesn't He? So no person, including the most spiritual

Christian or the giant on the face of the earth of a Christian you would think, can escape an incoming temptation.

Even our Lord Jesus Himself in His humanity, who was without sin in the flesh while He was here,

He was without sin, tempted by the devil in all points, yet He remained perfect without sin.

So isn't it critical to understand that number one, temptation never comes from God?

It is critical. So we must never ever blame God when temptation comes.

And that's what He's saying here. So ever since Adam and Eve fell into sin, this is what made me think as I was studying this,

I couldn't help but think about going to the garden. You go to our first parents. Fallen human nature has been prone to shift blame for our evil deeds.

We see this time and time again. When God confronted Adam, Adam had a lame reply.

Very lame. What did He say in Genesis 3 .12? The woman you gave me, who is

He blaming? He's blaming God. God gave Him the gift of this wife, this wife to be

His partner, be one with Him. It was not good for man to be alone, so He gifted him.

See? Nothing bad coming from God here. You know the woman whom you gave me, say

I fell into sin, she gave me of the tree and I ate.

So He's basically blaming God. So when God confronted Eve in Genesis 3 .13,

what was her right reply? The serpent deceived me and I ate. Notice the blame game, the shifting, the passing of the buck.

It's been around a long time, hasn't it? It has. It's been around a long time.

Both statements are technically true. Yes. But they're both dodging.

What are they doing? They're dodging personal accountability. They're dodging personal responsibility for their sin.

They're not owning up to their sin. Adam's answer really blamed God and gave the woman to Adam.

And James wants to see that if we go down that route, we will not overcome temptation.

And we contradict the holy character of God. Say this is

God's character here. Now God's character does not need my defense or your defense.

God can defend Himself quite well. But we have to go to the

Scriptures and what does the Scripture have to say about it? Proverbs 19 .3. I love to connect the Proverbs here because it connects everything that James is saying.

Insightfully gives us an observation. It says this, the foolishness of man ruins his way and his heart rages against the

Lord. You see that? His heart is against God.

He's raging against God. That's the natural state, beloved, of the depraved nature.

The heart is desperately wicked. Who can know it? And the heart loves to shift that blame onto others and not take the responsibility for its own sin.

I'll give you an example. If you turn with me very quickly to Exodus 32, just look at this very, very quick because my time is so limited.

But if you go to 32, there's a story that after Moses went up to the mount in chapter 32,

God gave the law to Moses. He was 40 days and 40 nights there.

Then chapter 32, you have the story of the golden calf and it begins in verse 1.

Let me read verse 1 -4 and then we're going to jump a lot here. But when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together

Aaron and said to him, come, make us gods. They wanted an idol that they can see, of course, and that they should go before us.

And this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.

He's been up there 40 days and 40 nights, okay? God's speaking to him. God's given his law. And Aaron said to him, well,

Aaron compromises. He compromises and he says, well, break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives and your sons and your daughters and bring them to me.

And you've got to realize there's thousands upon thousands of people and he gets a lot of gold, folks. And so all these people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears.

I'm sure they got it in Egypt, this gold, and brought them to Aaron and he received the gold from their hand and he fashioned it with an engraving tool and he made a molden calf.

And there you have the idol of calf. Why a calf? Well, they say the calf, the bull symbolizes strength.

So they wanted something that they could see, some kind of idol, a strength of something, power.

And here God just rescued them with a right and mighty hand, a strong hand out of the land of Egypt and showed all the signs and the wonders.

And here they are still wanting... See how the heart is? How they wanted an idol still to see.

And then they said, this is your God, O Israel, and they brought you out of the land of Egypt. It's terrible. And God knew what was going on, of course.

And then if you read the story, it goes on to say that the Lord said to Moses in verse 7, go get down for your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.

And they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I have commanded them. See, they turned quickly out of the way and have made themselves a molding calf and worshipped it and sacrificed it and said this is your

God. See, God knows exactly what is going on. He's everywhere. And O Israel, they brought you out of the land of Egypt.

He's telling Moses this. And the Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people and indeed it is a stiff -necked people.

And now therefore let me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them and may consume them and I will make you a great nation.

And of course, if you read the previous verses, Moses starts to plead with the

Lord and he actually begs with God and of course God holds back his wrath.

But if you jump to verse 22, notice what he said. Aaron said, do not...

And Moses comes down and he speaks to Aaron. This is his brother now. And then he asked him in verse 21, what did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?

You can almost see... And you know Moses was really angry here. It was a holy anger, folks.

It wasn't a bad temper because he broke the law of God. He threw it at the foot of the calf and it was really something if you notice.

And then there was water and he made the Israelites drink it with the gold mixed.

But in verse 22, Moses is confronting Aaron. It's almost like you can see him.

What in the world did they do that you would do this? So Aaron said...

Now notice this. Do not let the anger of my Lord become hot. Now he's pleading for mercy.

And he said, you know the people. You know them. They are set on evil.

Notice how he's passing the blame. You see that? For they said to me, make us gods that shall go before us.

And as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.

He's telling this story. And then he said, listen to this poor excuse. Verse 24.

It's almost humorous in a sense. He said, I said to them, whoever has any gold, let them break it off.

So they gave it to me and I cast it in the fire and this calf came out. See how ridiculous it is?

He's not owning up to the sin. And this man right here is used of God. He was God's spokesman.

It wasn't Moses. Moses stuttered. And God used Aaron as a spokesman in Egypt.

But this man was used of God. He's a priest in a sense. He's a representative. And look at the poor excuse.

He's passing the buck. That's my point here. He's blaming someone else.

And that's the point that is given to us. Now, there's so many examples I can tell you on Scriptures about this.

You can read them through verses and chapters and everywhere. And so it's very easy to blame

God for our sin, isn't it? We look at it and we say, oh, it's so easy. You know, we say, oh, yeah.

But, you know, we have a tendency to do the same at times, don't we, to blame it, to cast it on someone else.

So our hearts are so wicked and crafty and deceitful. We can even cite

Bible verses. Now, well, we'll meddle here a little bit, okay? In theology, back to the case. We rationalize and, hey, we know about the sovereignty of God, don't we?

God's sovereign over all things and He has to be sovereign even over my sin. No. But we rationalize that, don't we?

If He predestined everything before the foundation of the world, how could I escape from doing it? You see?

We try to justify it. Besides, He promises to work all things out for the good and He could have stopped me, but He didn't.

What could I do? God's going to eventually bring... I'm one of His children, so...

Oh, I could sin this one time, but God restored me. Okay, it wasn't my fault.

God allowed it. God is sovereign. You see how the mind and the heart can justify, but God has nothing to do with the sin, beloved.

Nothing. When we sin, it's not God's fault, whose fault is it? It's our fault.

It's right here. You know, I don't know if you know this, but here what

I just mentioned to you is fatalism. You know that? In his classic novel,

Herman Melville, that wrote Moby Dick, the classic about the great white whale, there's an analogy there that the white whale and Captain Ahab, it's a story of good and evil.

And Ahab is doing all this, and if you've seen it, I don't know, I like the old Gregory Peck version in 1957, but it's very close to the book, and they had to change it up, but if you ever read the book, it is a classic.

But Herman Melville, if you read about Melville, he came from a Presbyterian background, and he had a false view of the sovereignty of God.

It's fatalistic. He had a wrong view. In other words, the evil that was going on in the heart of Ahab, and he was writing this down, this is what he believed, even though it was a novel.

He said, all this that I do, and it was like Ahab was pursuing this whale, and he had evil in his heart.

But it's like the evil that was driving him, he said, God is making my hand to do this, and all this, and that he's chasing this whale madly, like he's possessed.

But you see that, it's fatalistic. God did not, he's not the author of sin. Now, a lot of people say right there, well, is it

God's sovereignty? Absolutely, but God uses the sin as a mystery of iniquity. You see that.

But God is not the author of it. But he can come right into the middle of it, and he can orchestrate things, and we see the evil about us.

It's important for us to understand and get a right concept of this, right? To understand why evil exists.

Well, God has allowed it. He could have stopped it, right? He could have stopped Lucifer.

He cast Lucifer out of heaven. Sin did not begin in the garden.

Sin began in the heart of an archangel. Do you see that? And God cast him out, but God had a plan, beloved.

Now, God did not orchestrate in the sense of he's the author of evil, but he uses that evil for his good and for his glory.

So we've got to understand that. Now, getting back, God is not the author of evil, so even though God may allow it, but its origins is not of God.

Do you see that? Now, James wants us to see this great truth. It is a great truth because critics accuse

John Calvin. Now, speaking about sovereignty, let me talk about John Calvin a little bit here because he gets so misquoted.

He does. There's a lot of people that are haters of Calvin. You'd be quite surprised how many hate Calvin because he stood for the truth, beloved.

But because of his stance on the sovereignty of God over everything, this verse or elsewhere,

Calvin strongly denies that God is the author of sin. Even when the Scriptures teach that God blinds or hardens a heart,

Calvin never said that God is the author of sin. Never. John Calvin asserts in his

Calvin commentaries on James, page 288 and 289, he says this, this is the words of Calvin, it does not assign to God the beginning of this blindness nor does it make him the author of sin so as to ascribe to him the blame.

Rather, he goes on to say, in this manner he punishes sin and renders a just reward to the ungodly who have refused to be ruled by his spirit.

That's John Calvin. I don't see anything there that Calvin is saying because of his doctrine of how he believed in the sovereignty of God in which we believe that God is sovereign over all things, that God ever has something to do with the sin, the beginning of that sin.

He doesn't. So James nails the sinful line of demarcation by blame shift and so James says, nor does he,

God, tempt anyone. God cannot be tempted by evil. Why? Well, I've got to ask the right question.

Why? Well, first of all, because God's character is holy.

He's absolutely holy. It's impossible because he is holy and he is immutable in nature.

1 John 1 .5, just a few verses, God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

Habakkuk 1 .13, your eyes are too pure to approve evil.

You cannot look on wickedness with favor. See? God cannot even behold the sin.

And the Scripture goes on to say even the moon and the stars is not even pure in his eyes. And he made it, you see?

But sin has done something, see? And since God cannot be tempted by evil, it follows that he himself does not tempt anyone.

Actually, the other way around, Jesus taught his disciples to pray in Matthew 6 .13, do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil, see?

So, we desire to overcome temptation when we must, at the outset, put our minds all shifting to blame, especially to blame

God. Okay, then if God does not tempt, which he does not, and he cannot, it's impossible for him, because of his holy nature, then where does the temptation come from?

Well, guess what? James tells us. You know, that sounds like an elementary question, doesn't it? But it's an important one.

It's a good question. And it leads me to my next point. Temptation comes from our own sinful desires.

Period. It's the depravity within our heart. Look at verse 14. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away.

Each one, get that, is tempted when he is drawn away. We're going to look at that word, drawn away.

By his own desires and enticed. A very important verse before us to understand, because of the nature of man, his depravity, and the origins of temptation.

Interesting to note here that James does not mention here the devil is the source of temptation.

You notice that? The devil is a tempter, by the way. He does have a part to play with it, because in chapter 3, verse 15, and chapter 4, verse 7,

James wants us to see that to blame God, or circumstances, or the devil, or others, or for my sin is to dodge the real source of it.

But in chapter 3 and chapter 4, he does say that Satan does play a part in temptation.

To label it as a disease, I've got to bring this out. You've heard people bring it, that it's a disease, is to absolve myself from the responsibility of it.

Did you know that is what the gospel of psychology does? They blame what?

The environment? Have you heard that? The surroundings, the culture, all on the external, the world.

You see that? But sin is always volitional. It's within the heart of man.

That's why the answers lie not in the government.

The answer to people's problem of evil is the gospel. Because only the gospel of Jesus Christ can change a wicked heart.

The gospel, it's always an internal problem, not an external one. Well, how can you say that,

Pastor David? Well, if you think of it, God placed the perfect parents, Adam, in a perfect environment.

You see that? In the garden, there was no sin. He chose to sin because he wanted to sin.

You see, he went after that sin. And Satan was very crafty because he knew exactly how to get to Adam through his wife.

You see that? And if you notice, when the sin took place, you don't hear or see Adam doing anything.

He just stands by passively and sin came into the world.

And then God comes to Adam first. You notice that? Because he's the head. And he comes to Adam and he says,

Adam, where art thou? He knew where Adam was. He wanted Adam to know where he was. So he comes to Adam.

What is this you've done? And you know the story. He blames God. You see that? It's been around.

Well, you see, there's nothing new under the sun. There's no hope, by the way, for overcoming temptation unless we first acknowledge that temptation comes from my own sinful desires.

We have to see right here. It's right in my soul, in this mind, why it takes place.

Conversely, there's hope. Let me turn it around. There is hope when I begin to recognize and be on guard against the monster, the beast that's within, and the animal that resides in me.

And if I recognize it for what it is, then I confess my sins and I repent. You see?

And there's another example to continue to struggle within me. Paul says this in Romans 7. Let's look at just a few verses very quickly.

Look at verse 17 in Romans 7. I don't have time to go into this, but I'm so glad for Romans, aren't you?

Romans is a great theological book. Verse 17, But now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells. This is Paul the apostle, folks.

Okay, then he says, For to will is present with me, and how to perform what is good I do not find.

For the good that I will to do I do not, but the evil I will not to do.

That I practice. Notice what he's saying there. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer

I do it, but sin that dwells in me. He goes on to say, I find in a law that evil is present with me, and the one who wills to do good.

I delight in the inward law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members.

Notice what he says. Warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is my members.

And notice what he says. I love this in verse 24. O wretched man that I am. He calls it as it is.

O wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me, what a question, from this body of death? And he gives an answer.

I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. There's the answer. And so then with the mind,

I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Now there's a lot there, and I don't have time to go into an exposition of that, but when he's talking about here, for we know that the law is spiritual, and I am carnal fleshly, so to understand, he's saying this.

The law is spiritual is to reflect on God's perfect character. You see that? And to say

I am carnal, or the flesh, that means that he's bound, mortal. He still is incarcerated in this redeemed humanness.

You see that? He's a saved man, but he's still dealing with this sin problem.

Remaining sin. But see, the flesh is in him. See, he's not in the flesh, but the flesh is still in him.

He's still having that war. That's remaining sin. He's sold under sin. Sin no longer controls the whole man, with the unbeliever, but it does hold him captive, the believer's members, in his fleshly body.

Why? Because sin condemnates him. Sin frustrates us. Sin, in his inner desire, it holds him up, it frustrates his inner desire to obey

God's will perfectly. That's James. That's what James says. So, getting back to verse 14, let's look at that word, drawn away.

Drawn away. That's an important word. Greek word used here to describe wild game. You know that?

In the Greek. That's what it's talking about. It's describing wild game that is being lured into traps. Just as animals can be drawn to their very deaths by attractive baits.

We've been having mice problems at our place, and we set out these little traps. And I get a little spoonful of peanut butter and make it so nice on that trap.

And that mouse just got big black eyes. You've seen mice. My wife can't stand them.

I'm telling you, she goes ballistic when she sees them. But she said, you've got to set out some traps. And we've had people come by and set traps everywhere.

You know, we live out in the country, in the woods, and we've got problems with mice. Well, how do you get the mice?

You get them by the traps. You bait the trap, and that mice doesn't know. What does that mice see?

He sees one thing. He sees that peanut butter. He sees that cheese, whatever you want to say, something that he loves, something attractive.

You think he's thinking about the consequences of that? You think he's getting ready to get popped, and then his life is over?

Not on your life. Well, that's what this verse is saying. You see, it's just as like animals is drawn to their very deaths by being attracted to it.

There's another attractive to the bait. It's fish. You take a hook. You bait the hook to catch the fish.

You think that fish sees that hook? Not on your life. He's thinking about food. He's thinking about something good to him.

He's not thinking about the end result, that he's going to be on a plate, and he's going to be eaten.

So he's not thinking about that. Of course not. That's what the verse is saying. Temptation promises people something good, but in the end, it's death, folks.

And we need to see that, and we don't need to be undiscerning. We need to see that when we are tempted.

So it's harmful, and it's devastating. Look at Samson. He's a good example of that. He fell right into the lap of Delilah.

You think he was concerned about having his eyes took out? He lost his eyes.

They bind him. They grind him. And the next thing you know, of course, there's a redeeming story.

He came back, and God gave his strength back when his hair started to grow back. But look at the consequences, beloved. That's what

I'm saying. Well, there's a lot here. The consequences of sin.

I heard a preacher once say, sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, cost you more than you want to pay.

So true. This is what Satan blinds people to, beloved. But it's our own sinful desires that draws us into it.

The tempter is there, but it's each one that is tempted when he's drawn away with his own desires.

Now, let's look at that word, own desires. He refers to lust. Now, this is an interesting story.

I think, Brother Michael and Keith, we do these word studies sometimes, and I think it was Brother Keith that threw this on us, didn't he,

Michael? What does this word lust mean? It means desires. Is it good, or is it bad?

Well, let me say this. As I studied God's Word on this, and you can check me and check yourself on this, in Scripture, there are legitimate desires at times.

In Luke 22 .15, Philippians 1 .23, 1 Thessalonians 2 .17,

but usually, usually, most of the time, it means sinful desires. Sometimes the basic desire may be legitimate, or it could be sinful, depending on the situation, on how we handle it.

Now, for example, hunger. Let me give you an example. Hunger is a legitimate desire. We all get hungry, don't we?

That is a desire. And we need to be fed. And it's nice to sit at a table and get a good meal.

There's nothing wrong about that, beloved. That is a normal desire, and God created us with the desire for that.

And if we seek to fulfill that desire outside of anything else, according to His Word, it can become sin.

Gluttony is sin, right? So I can sit down and I can eat too much. I fell into sin.

You see what I'm saying? So you have to be very wise and look at this. So, as we carry on, look at this.

Also, we need to distinguish between the manner in which Jesus was tempted and the way we are tempted. There's a difference. And by that statement,

I mean that Jesus did not have innate desire towards sin, as we do. Well, even though He was tempted in all points as we are, and yet without sin,

Jesus' temptation had to come from outside, not from within. You see that? We'll look at this later on, possibly

Lord willing next week, how Jesus overcame temptation. It was very important of that battle that He had.

And really, there was really no battle to take place. He was the one that was in the offense and in charge the whole time.

Satan really was at odds completely in what he was doing. But Jesus had the perfect, in His perfect humanity, there was nothing within Him that He desired sin.

You see that? Satan was doing what he could to come at Him to make Him doubt that He was the

Son of God because God the Father spoke, this is My beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased.

The Holy Spirit drove Jesus in the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, and that was a major victory for us, beloved.

You see that? So Jesus, He did not have the battles of sinful thoughts and lust and greed and jealousy and envy like we do because He had a perfect heart, beloved.

He never had desires to want to sin. Actually, His desire was holiness constantly.

We can't think of that, you know, beloved. You know why? It's foreign to us because we are sinners.

He was perfectly righteous and holy. And to become sin was something just devastating to Him.

And He became sin so that you and I might be the righteousness of God. But see, because Jesus entered into this world through the

Virgin Mary, He did not come into this world with the Adamic nature. He did not have that bent to sin and to be toward evil.

Now, I'm skipping a lot of notes because our time is almost gone, but I do need to go to the application.

I'm going to pick up later on, Lord willing, next week. Let me get some application to this.

And it's short and sweet, and I've got four applications I'd like to hit, and they're pointed and they're not long, but I think there's enough here to help each and every one of us.

I need this. When I was studying this, I said, Lord, help me. Because when we're out there in the world, you know what

I'm saying. Satan, he lures the trap, but it's our inner selfish desires that causes the drawing away to go after that bait.

And we're thinking it's something good, good to the eye, something good like the fruit was.

But what happens? There's devastating consequences behind it. It can ruin your life, and it even can lead to death.

Just like the introduction about Proverbs 7. Beloved, there's a lot of wisdom in that chapter.

So let me give the four applications. Number one, number one, never ever trust yourself.

Pastor, what are you talking about? Just like it says. 1 Timothy 4 .16 is a good verse.

And actually, Paul the Apostle is speaking to Timothy as a minister. And as ministers need to take heed because ministers is not exempt from this.

And have you noticed? In the church, there's many a castaway, many a shipwrecked.

I've seen them, beloved. I've seen many a minister's fall. And I can name them, and you would know them.

But let me just talk about this for a little bit. This is a good verse to begin because what does Paul say to Timothy?

Timothy is going to be a man of God. And he says this, Take heed.

That's a word to study. There's two words to study. You take heed. You watch out to yourself, number one, and to the doctrine.

Know thyself first. The enemy we look at, I believe Keith, you quoted this, is when

I look in the mirror, the enemy is right here staring me in the face. Here in this verse, Paul is talking about sanctification, not salvation, okay?

Young Timothy's priorities of a godly leader are summed up in personal holiness, beloved, and his public teaching.

All of Paul's exhortations to Timothy in verse 6 through 16 fit into one or the other of those two categories.

Notice what Paul says. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Then he says this, Continue in them.

There's perseverance. Remember? Enduring. Continue in them. For in doing, you've got to put action to it, you've got to obey.

This will save both yourself and those who hear you. This is a critical verse for me as a pastor, beloved.

I must have accountability. And we'll get there in just a minute. But he's talking about perseverance. But you can take this verse and apply it to yourself as well in your personal walk with the

Lord. And perseverance in believing the truth always accompanies genuine conversion.

Period. You see that? He mentions those who hear you.

In other words, pay careful attention to his own personal godly life and faithful preaching of the

Word. This is what Paul is saying to Timothy. Timothy would continue to be the human instrument God would use to bring the gospel to save others who hurt him.

But you've got to take heed to yourself first. You must watch yourself or you're going to be shipwrecked.

You're going to be a castaway. And Paul warned about that. There's a means to an end.

God uses human instruments. But all salvation is of God. So it is with our walk with the Lord. Study the

Word. Meditate on the truth. Let it sanctify you through and through. Study the Word. Do not neglect

Bible study. Know thyself. Know where you're most vulnerable. Have some accountability.

Have wise strategies to protect yourself from going down a road that you should not be.

Have some accountability partners. Have somebody to be accountable with. Others may be able to handle situations where you could fall.

If you know it's a bad situation, do you go to it? Don't go. Some people can't go see movies.

Some, it depends. You see what I'm saying? If it's something that's going to make you stumble, don't go.

Have a clear conscience before God. So develop a deep distrust in yourself that drives you to desperate clinging to Jesus.

But also you need accountability with one another. Very quickly, two. Next would be avoid, what

I just mentioned, avoid tempting situations. Avoid tempting situations. Scripture says flee.

You know what flee means? It means run from it. It meant run. 1 Timothy 6 .11

Flee these things. What things? Verse 10. The love of money. Namely, which is the root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith.

He's talking about God's people. He's not talking about the heathens. Some have strayed from the faith in their, what?

Greediness. And pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Run from it. What else would he run from? 1 Corinthians 6 .8 Flee sexual immorality.

Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does, he says, is outside of the body.

He who commits sexual immorality sins against his body. As children of the living God, redeemed and sanctified for the

Master's use, you're set apart for God. You've been purchased by the blood of Jesus. You're no longer your own. We're to flee from it.

We're to run from it. We're to have a deliberate volitional choice to run from sexual sin.

Now what else does he say? 2 Timothy 2 .22 Flee also youthful lust.

Flee those youthful desires. But, then he turns out, I love this. He gives the positive. You pursue righteousness and faith and love and peace with those who call on the

Lord out of a pure heart. Now you notice that with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

There's accountability right there. Well, we're to run from it. What else are we to flee?

James 4, 7 and 8 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil. He will flee from you.

Draw near to God. And He will draw near to you. You see that? There's a responsibility.

That we're to confess our sins, repent from our sins. You run toward God. And James speaks of a painful, powerful repentance in the following verses.

Well, I would like to think that submitting to God is also putting on the whole armor of God. Every day.

Get ready for the battle. You must prepare yourself for battle. You're in war, beloved.

And this war is real. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood and principalities and powers on this earth.

But we wrestle against what? Principalities and powers. I'm sorry, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood.

But against principalities and powers. The war is very real. And it's basically a truth war. We must abandon our selfish pride submitting to the captain of the

Lord of hosts. Third, have a predetermined commitment to follow Jesus. Folks, continue to follow

Jesus. Run to Jesus. Cling to Jesus. When I find myself being overwhelmed by sin,

I fall on my face and I say, Lord, help me. I'm too weak here. You must help me. Remember what

Job says. He made a covenant with his eyes that I may not look at a virgin. There's no wisdom in sin.

There's no wisdom in sin. Sin will devastate you and ruin you and take you right to hell.

We must choose the way of the cross. We must choose to follow

Jesus. It's a hard choice, but it's one hard choice at a time and it's the only way to get the victory. Scripture says to keep yourselves.

Keep yourselves in the love of God. Keep yourselves from idols. Keep yourselves in the love of God.

You see that, but there's things I must do. I must sanctify the Lord God in my heart, but God sanctifies me.

You see what I'm saying? We don't throw it all on God. Yes, He redeems us.

He's part of the salvation, no doubt, but in all of the salvation, but the sanctification is you, beloved.

God keeps us. God keeps us. Secures us. Fourth, very quickly, keep before you, and I mean this, keep before you that gruesome end of temptation, death.

Never ever follow it because there is a hook on the other end of that bait. There is a trap that's ready to take you down.

People don't see this. Even many of Christians have fallen. Many of ministers because they've never seen, they don't think about the consequences.

It's devastating. It's not worth it. Put it to death. Put on the

Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh. Let me close with... I had some Scriptures from Romans 8, but I'm going to close with this.

Go with me to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11, and I'm concluding with this. This is a wonderful chapter.

Hebrews 11 is the faith chapter, right? And after all this, by the way, it concludes with an ultimate look to Jesus.

But I like the example of Moses. And look at verse 24. By faith,

Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather...

Notice that. What did he do? Choosing rather to suffer affliction.

He chose to suffer, beloved, affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.

The old King James says for a season. Do you see that? The Bible does say that...

Bless her heart. That... Very important.

Bless her heart. That breaks people's heart. The Bible does not hold back that there's pleasure in sin.

But it's for a season. But who do you take pleasure in this morning? Your flesh?

That's going to pass away? Or are you going to take pleasure in God? God alone?

You see? And then verse 26 says, and here's the key verse, esteeming the reproach of Christ.

Esteeming the reproach of Christ. Greater riches.

Don't you love that? Greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. For He looked to the reward.

That's exactly what James says in verse 12, right? There's a reward. Hang in there.

It pays to serve Jesus. And keep your eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray.

Father in heaven, we thank You by Your grace. Lord, if we made it this far, it's because of Your faithfulness.

And Lord, we pray that we would faithfully endure to the very end.

Lord, we pray to give us grace to go on. For it's by grace that taught our heart to fear.

And grace my fears relieved. Lord, we know that grace is not earned, but it sure is learned.

We must learn. And grace teaches us to do something, to live a holy life. So Father, because we have received this grace, grace does not give us any liberty whatsoever to sin.

Actually, we're saved from sin, and it keeps us from sin. And that's dealt with in Romans 6.

And Lord, we thank You that You deal with those issues and bring it down to a very practical way.

So Lord, as John Newton said, when this flesh and heart shall fail, and mortal life shall cease,

I shall possess within the veil a life of joy and peace, knowing that it pays to follow

Jesus. May we all, Lord, keep our eyes, a single eye, as we run in a race on the prize before us.

And that prize is the Lord Jesus Christ, the pearl of great price. So Father, as we go into celebrating this wonderful communion, the

Lord's Table, as we approach the Lord's Table, we pray that You would grace us as we are sober -minded in the great price that was paid for our salvation.