James 1:13-15 Tempted but NOT by GOD

[shalom-dodi]

Welcome to the Monday Night Bible Study. I am Shalom Dodi over mic and I will be leading tonight. But first, our format is Welcome, Song, Prayer, Lesson and Closing

Song: At the Cross https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_24IdbJ0Tw

Prayer: Lord thank you for this day, and this time. Thank you for loving us and for giving us this time together tonight. Lord, I ask your blessing over all who are here and those who usually are but can not tonight. Father some of us need healing, some of us need hope, some of us have physical and/or emotional needs. Thank you that you KNOW us and are at work in our lives. Help us to set aside the cares of this day and simply be with you in your Word tonight. In the precious name of Jesus, amen.

Well, James is really chock full of advice on how we are to live the Christian life, isn’t it? Remember James was most likely the half brother of Jesus and was writing to the Jewish Christians scattered about due to persecution. And yet, he began with: 2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Then we saw that if they and we need wisdom from God all we have to do is ask for it. Verse 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
We also saw James telling these brothers and sisters who were being persecuted to hold fast to their faith in order to receive the Crown of Life.

Tonight we come to another part of James that I dearly love. James 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

I have heard it said this way. Sin gives birth and the baby is death not life.

When we are enticed and give in to the lust of the flesh or the lust of our eyes or the lust of our mind, one thing does lead to another. Say you are using your computer and an enticing photo pops up as they sometimes do, or an advertisement for something less than good. In that very moment, in an instant, we have a choice. Submit to the enticement or quickly get RID of it. If we give in one time, then we are more likely to give in the next time and so on. A tiny glance may lead to a longer one or a return visit. This is true for any addiction. All addiction is birthed from giving way to enticement.

Verse 13 says, God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one. In Amplified it says: 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God” [for temptation does not originate from God, but from our own flaws]; for God cannot be tempted by [what is] evil, and He Himself tempts no one.

This is true. In the Amplified, it says our own flaws. We are all born with a sin nature, since Adam’s sin.

However there is something more, I believe. We are also created by God with legitimate needs. We need to be loved and love, we need to have a purpose, we need relationship with God but also wth people. If those needs were not met as a child and we are not secure in who we are and that we do indeed have a “right to exist”, then our soul will be screaming for love and acceptance and purpose.

If we have not yet learned how to get those needs met in legitimate ways, we will be enticed to meet them in other ways. That is one reason real life Christian fellowship is so important. Especially for those without loving natural family connections. So yes, we are flawed, but we are also wounded. However temptation to sin is still NEVER from God.

We also see in verse 13 that God cannot be tempted by evil. We have proof of that when we consider Jesus. Right after Jesus was baptized by John, he was led …..Do you remember? Let’s look at Matthew 4: 1-11. 4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,
“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and
“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God
    and him only shall you serve.’”
11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

Did you see it? First of all Jesus WAS tempted. But the temptation was NOT from God; it was from the opposite of God, the devil.

Second Jesus used the Word to refute and resist the temptation which was a distortion of what God had said. (Think Adam and Eve where the devil first distorted what God had actually said…”Did God really say?”

Third look what happened after Jesus withstood the temptation. God sent ANGELS to minister to him.
Have you ever been tempted and not given in and then felt such peace or joy?

Could it be, God sent angels to minister to you?

And could it be that when there are unmet legitimate needs behind the temptation that God will “send ministering angels” to strengthen us and in fact has already given us the Holy Spirit?

I want to focus on something in verse 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Do you see what it says? We are tempted and lured and enticed by our own desire. Does it say desire is BAD or EVIL? I never noticed that before. It simply says desire.

Which makes me think of those unmet needs we talked about earlier. Some versions do say “evil” desires. And a few say lusts.

But think about it. When you are tempted to sin, even if it is as simple a thing as over eat, isn’t there an unmet need? For me there always is. When I can remember that GOD stands ready and willing and able to provide for ALL my needs according to the riches of HIS glory in Christ Jesus, then it is easier to resist.

I think too, that long before we are offered the temptation in the physical arena we have already mulled it over in our minds. I base that on experience but also what Jesus said in Matthew 5:28
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
And the story of David and Bathsheba.
Once a long time ago, I heard about “guarding our eye gates and other gates. We have to be intentional to guard even our thought life. Then guard what we look at, listen to, read etc. If David had not kept looking at Bathsheba nothing would have happened. If in Jesus’ example a man had not kept looking lustfully at a woman, nothing would happen.
That is why, or one reason we are instructed what sort of things to spend our time thinking about. Remember Philippians 4:8? Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
If we do that, when I remember to do that, there is much less opportunity for temptation and much more ability to resist it when it does come.

Verse 15 is strong. Let’s read all three together. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Sin when fully grown brings death. Wow. That is harsh or is it? Maybe it is a very loving warning.
Have you ever heard the term “reprobate spirit (mind)”?
Have you ever read that verse that says there is a sin which leads to death?

It is part of 1 John 1. 16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
Dodi Note: That is strong too isn’t it? Ever wonder what that sin is?
I sometimes use a site called Desiring God. Here is their way of explaining it:

So let me translate it that way: “If anyone sees his brother committing sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life — to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death” (1 John 5:16–17).
We need to make sure that we see these two verses as part of the larger balancing act that John is doing in this letter. On the one hand, there’s a strong emphasis in 1 John that those who are truly born of God don’t go on sinning. First John 3:9: “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning.”
On the other hand (that’s one side of the balance), John warns against misunderstanding that in a perfectionist way as though Christians don’t sin anymore. I’ve actually met people who say that. John says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8–10).
Changed but Not Perfect
On the one side, you don’t keep on sinning if you’re born again. On the other side, you don’t ever stop sinning in this world. In other words, John is trying to strike a balance between the absolute necessity of the new birth, which necessarily gives a significant measure of victory over sin. That’s the one side. On the other hand, there’s the reality that we do in fact as Christians commit sins and can find forgiveness as we confess them.
“If you confess your sin, hate it, turn from it, and fight against it, you will be forgiven.”

That’s the balance you find in 1 John 5:16–17. So verse 16 begins with “if anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life — to those who commit sins that do not lead to death.” In other words, yes, there is such a thing as a Christian sinning and not being damned for it.
Then verse 17 ends like this: “All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.” So John’s striking the note firmly that we should not take anything he has said in a perfectionist way that implies Christians don’t sin or that all sin leads to damnation. It doesn’t.

AND the BOTTOM line about that is something I love: The sin that does not lead to death and damnation is any sin that we commit that, by God’s grace, we are capable of truly confessing and repenting from.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). First John 1:9 is a very, very precious promise.
https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/ ... n-1-john-5

A reprobate heart/mind/spirit is when a person has given way to temptation from the devil… to meet a legitimate need in an illegitimate way…and done so over and over, so long that his/her heart has become calloused and they no longer even care what God thinks or says or does. That is very very sad to me.
I debated sharing this next part. But we ARE looking at James in depth and James did say…”Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” So I think we have to at least consider this.
We live in world much like Sodom and Gomorrah. And we are constantly told we have no right to judge. Yet the Bible is clear about certain things. And it does say that God will eventually, just let you go. There are churches around who teach what I call the “feel-good-gospel”. Do what you want. Anything you want, God loves you. But James and many other writers stress that YES God does love us. Yes, we are saved by faith in Jesus alone. However if we ARE truly saved, our lives will reflect it. No, we will not be perfect. But YES we will be sorry when we do sin and try with God’s help to change. We will see fruit of salvation/repentance in our lives. If we don’t, probably we need to invite God to examine our hearts once again.
Having said that, we are going to read from Romans 1.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
That is a reprobate heart/mind/spirit and the worse part to me, is that they teach others to think/do/live likewise.
No comments on this, I will just let the Word stand for itself.

Father God thank you for James and his clear instruction to us. Lord help us to REST in you. Help us to TRUST your love for us and not get into fear by what we read. Lord God, we bless you in this day. We ask and we thank you for drawing us close to you, for always being with us for always providing THE WAY out from any temptation as you said in 1 Cor. 10:13 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. and the promise you gave us in Hebrews 4 14Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Help us to go forth encouraged in your love. In Jesus name ame16n

Song/Prayer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlARyE78vjw