Father, thank you for this time in which we can open your Word. We pray that you study the book of James, that you would give wisdom to each of us as we continue to grow in our knowledge of your Word. Be with Caleb as he brings what he studied this week to us, and may we have a good discussion and just walk away from here better informed and ready to do your Word in Christ. Amen. All right, so we are in James chapter 1 still, and so as a reminder, we are using a book by Warren Wiersbe. I might reference it a little bit more this morning than I have in the past few weeks. But the lens for our study is through the lens of Christian maturity. And James is often called the Proverbs of the New Testament, and so the entire book of James is filled with practical applications for us, whether you have been in Christ for a couple months, or you have been in Christ for a couple years, or if it is pretty much all that you've ever known. There is nothing in the book of James that does not directly relate to you and I in our walk with the Lord. And so the thing that we had started off with specifically was trials. In verses 2 through 12, verses 2 through 12, we ask the question, how does a spiritually mature person handle trials? And a couple different responses that he gives, he gives us four. You guys remember any of those four? Verse two, first word. count thank you so counter to reconcile not necessarily that we are enjoying the trial itself as much as when I look at I can recognize that God is going to use this trial for his good and for his glory likewise we have we have count we also have let we also have so my previous slide also to know and then to ask and that's where we talked about asking for wisdom And we read in verse number 12. Verse number 12, depending on how your publisher, how your Bible shows it, it either shows that it is in the same passage as starting with verse two, or it shows it's in a new section. because of the way that the word is used. And we read it last week, actually two weeks ago, in verse 12, blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. And what we had mentioned in our last lesson is that verse 12 can act either as a conclusion of that last section or as an introduction to this section as well. And we start reading in verse number 13, Verses 13 through 15 will be the extent of what we go through this morning. And we read, so we've been talking about encouraging for the last several weeks. We've been talking about comforting as we go through trials, as we go through struggles. These are some things that will encourage our hearts. So we are now shifting from comforting to convicting. So we did all the feel good, now we have to do the feel bad, okay? Talking about conviction, talking about temptation. Verse number 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. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. That in and of itself is a very vivid picture. Sin is conceived. When it is fully matured, it gives birth to death. And so Weersbe in the opening section, because we might ask ourself, well, what is this transition? Seems awkward to have this right next to the other. And here's what he says. Sometimes the trials that we face are testings on the outside. And that's how he describes trials on the outside. And sometimes they are temptations on the inside. And notice especially what he says as his transition into this topic. And I found it in more than just his book this week. If we are not careful, The testings on the outside may become temptations on the inside. What might this look like? When you're facing a trial, and that trial, you are then tempted in that trial, and then you fall into temptation. If you're, I mean, facing some sort of, you know, financial struggle, and then that becomes Those who are not. Likewise, anxious. We think typically of lust, desire, physical things, but lust is anything that's outside of God's will, desiring anything that is outside of God's will, outside of God's law. We could talk about some other things. Becoming anxious when we should trust. Becoming bitter over a trial instead of counting it as joy. Taking revenge on someone who is persecuting or reviling you. Life is hard, so we live as we want. If that is how God is going to treat me, then I'm going to rebel and do my own thing. We take matters into our own hands. People are deceived into thinking, okay, for instance, suicide is one of the top causes for both young people and adults in America. And I remember talking to a pastor friend of mine when we still lived in Baltimore. And I made the statement, those who take their life are being so selfish. And he stopped me and he said, actually, he said, no, Caleb, they're being deceived. They're being deceived into thinking that that is an alternative for them out of whatever it is that they're struggling with. We could fill in what, in our eyes, the idea of temptation, we pigeonhole it as things that other people struggle with. Kind of like the sin that is bad is the sin that other people deal with, not the sin that I struggle with. Temptation can take many, many different forms. Some Bible examples of this, can you think of passage, I wrote down three, I wrote down three ideas, but any biblical examples of someone who turned a trial into a temptation, being that they succumbed to the temptation? Samson, I didn't think of that, go on. Good. Good. Good. Dave is an example. Moses is an example. Eve, I've got her later. I thought of a couple this morning. First, Abraham's testing. Abraham had a testing. There was a famine going on, and God said, I want you to go here. Instead of going here, he went to Egypt instead. God says, I'm going to give you a son. And in the trial and in the testing, he then I also thought of King Saul. King Saul. As King Saul was, Samuel said, I want you to wait seven days for me. I want you to wait seven days for me, and then I'm going to come. Don't do anything until I come. And on the seventh day, King Saul took matters into his own hands. And that is where we find the path where Samuel then shows up and he said, you've done foolishly because it is better for you to obey than for you to do what you think is right. And if we're not careful, the struggles that we have, the temptation that we're facing can then turn into a a sin, we can fall into sin. And we can talk about Jonah. Jonah's testing as well as he was, and then he rebelled against God. So let's talk about some definitions of temptation in terms of what it is. If you look up temptation in the dictionary, you'll find that in the modern definition, it means to entice to do wrong, a strong inclination to do wrong. Other words that you might find are words like entice or provoke. So it has a very negative slant. However, the original wording, if you were to look it up on a blue letter Bible or you were to do some word study, the original word for tempt literally means to pierce through, to test the durability. It is a morally neutral word. That is why the word trials and temptations often are very often synonymous in New Testament writing. The context of the surrounding passage is what drives what it is talking about. For example, we can see trials and temptations beginning a part of chapter one that talks about hardship and persecution. Likewise, we see that there is a shift, a very drastic shift that begins to take place in this next passage that we start looking at. What is the difference though between sin and temptation? Because they're not the same thing. You don't have to succumb to temptation. You can be tempted but not give in to that temptation. Whereas sin is you have given in. What's perhaps the best example of that? Because we have literally his temptation in the wilderness. And so there's a part of the struggles that there is a spiritual warfare that takes place. We talked about that in Ephesians. There's a spiritual warfare that takes place and one of the ways that spiritual warfare manifests is through Then that inward struggle of just because you are tempted, what are you going to then decide to do when you're faced with that temptation? And Christ, of course, is the greatest example of that. And so this is a two-part lesson because the more I study this, the more that I necessarily could not just put it down into one lesson. And so some thoughts that I have here. So if we have verses 2 through 11, 2 through 12, and we're talking about how does a spiritually mature person handle trials? We then shift our focus and we ask ourselves, how does a spiritually mature person face temptation? We not only have James's response here, but we could even go outside of this and we could look at Paul's response, and then ultimately we could look at how did Christ respond when he was tempted as well. And so we're gonna start in verse number 13. We're going to start in verse 13 by asking the question, where does it not come from? Where does it not come from? Verse 13, we read, 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 man. What is this verse telling us about the character and nature of God? If God's nature is holy, The logic that James is using is saying if God is holy, and he is, then he cannot be the author of sinful temptation. I read a quote this week from a guy named McDonald. I'm sure it wasn't, yeah, anyway, joke. He said, if man cannot blame God, he will adopt an approach of modern psychology by saying that sin is a sickness. For example, you will find that alcoholism is referred to now as a disease. Actually, it has been for a long time. In this way, man hopes to escape judgment by finding a scapegoat for the reason for the temptation. But sin is not a sickness, it is a moral failure for which man must give an account. And we could go very early in Genesis 3 and find that man is very good about pointing the finger at someone else. When a spiritually mature person faces temptation, our first response cannot be, God must be tempting me with sin. God must be tempting me. Does God tempt man though? Remember the word tempt is a morally neutral word. So perhaps the nuance of the word. So in Genesis 22 we find the literal wording is after these things God tested Abraham. Okay, again, when God is testing, God is testing to purify us, to refine us. Likewise, know that when Satan gives us a temptation, that it is to completely do the opposite of that. And so our first reaction, like I said, is often to blame other people. But if the origin of sin or the temptation of sin is not from God, where does it come from? And we find that in verse 14. Verse 14, we read, and I have two versions listed for you. Very vivid, very vivid. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. If we look at the amplified rendering of this verse, but each one is tempted when he is dragged away, enticed and baited to commit sin by his own worldly desire, and we could then insert lust and passion. Do you notice what is shockingly absent from that verse? The devil made me do it. One, in contrast to from your previous slide, speaking of the character of God, God is just, right? And God commands us to be holy as he is holy. So he cannot tempt us with evil. I was particularly drawn to this right here. Dragged away. Going semi-back to Darren's point, dragged away. What is it that is drawing us away from? God. Well, and you notice, and we're gonna come back to that one, but what was it that, in that case, Satan was trying to drag her away from? Did God... Did God really say that? dragging us away from truth, dragging us away from virtue. In order for us to be dragged to something, we have to be dragged away from something. Likewise, we see in the Old Testament where the Israelites are sitting in the wilderness and they say, didn't we have it? You remember when we were back in Egypt, we had it so much better. Sin has a way of skewing our minds, skewing our perception, dragging us away from truth. But the thing, again, that's shockingly absent is the devil. He's not mentioned anywhere in this. The world is not mentioned anywhere in this. Going back to the previous point, we struggle with accountability just like when Adam and Eve were confronted and Adam said, she made me do it. And then God shifted his gaze toward Eve and she said, the serpent made me do it. There are many times, I believe very strongly, that when we struggle with temptation and we blame the devil, the devil kind of does one of these. I didn't have anything to do with that one. Because what we see here is that we are lured or we are baited. The heart of the problem is a problem of the heart. What James is telling us here, the issue is the heart. The devil isn't mentioned there. The world isn't mentioned there. The sinful heart is what is mentioned, and we read it in many places. James 4.1, he comes back later and says this. The problem is that you guys have passions. You have lust in your members, and you are consuming these things upon your lust. The issue is a heart issue. In Jeremiah 17, 9, we read the human mind, and the ESV and KGB uses heart, is more deceitful than anything else. It is incurably bad. It is incurably sick, which gives us stronger insight into why James says the heart of the problem is a problem of the heart when you are drawn away by what is already inside of you. And I was telling Jeff this morning, he was very much the fisherman back in his day. Yeah, I found an old picture of Zach. He doesn't look like that anymore. He does look like Chandler. When we lived in Durham, we could go and fish about anywhere. When we lived in Baltimore, there are so many places you could fish in Baltimore. And when the boys, especially Zach and Mason, were younger, we went fishing a decent amount of the time. And of course, I have always been the recreational fisherman. I have always been the guy. I didn't really fish. I just cast. I just call it casting. And so fish normally get fed really well when I go. That's normally the problem. But when we lived there, we went fishing all the time. And if you want to go fishing, the best thing to use is live bait, or you have a really, really expensive lure that you go and buy. But the thing that I found is that depending on what it is you want to get, you use a different kind of lure. For instance, if you want a good bass. Beyond just where to get the bass, you have to get one of those shiny little worms that have all the glitter in them, that when you put it in, the motion catches the eye of the bass. And that sparkle, really especially if it's muddy water, you get a really nice bright one that they can see. Now you want a good rock fish, a good white bass, you go use some crankbait. They like that rattle when they hear it. And likewise, if you're going to get something else also, I found one of the best things to do is get a spinnerbait. Fish love that spinnerbait. As you can see in several examples, they're different colors. They're shiny, they're bright. And under all that is the hook that's hiding underneath it. The fish can't see it. All they can see is the brightness of it. They can see that mirror that's flickering. And as the sunlight hits it, it catches their attention. They lose all sense of rationale and they just go run to it. This is the visual definition of what he's talking about. When he says that each one, it refers to not only a collective, every one of us struggle, but likewise, we all have our own besetting sins. To where it's like there's a different lure that works for each of us, whether it's anxiety, whether it's fear, whether it's whatever it may be, pride. There is a different lure that works very well on every one of us. And the visual picture we get here is baiting. And I have some notes here. Just like a fisherman has different kinds of bait for different fish, sin has that very same unique quality, knowing what kind of bait that is great to use for every single person. And the lure is nothing more than an empty promise. That's all it is, is an empty promise. At least with the live bait, at least they get to eat something. But that artificial lure, it is nothing more than an empty promise. It's not even real. Just like the lure is an empty promise of food to the fish, sin likewise is an empty promise to you and to me. It's an empty promise. Some of the lures, for example, one of the temptations that we struggle with is that nobody will find out. Nobody will find out. And Moses gave this very strong warning in Numbers 32. He said, be sure that your sin, be sure your sin will find you out. Another lure of temptation is that it won't happen to me. We hear these stories and people give us their life story. And then we, for some reason, think that we live outside the creation norms and we think, well, that happened to them, but surely that won't happen to me. And whatever that lure is, is very enticing, very enticing for us. But then we have the process of sin, the process of sin. We find in verse number 15, that then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, it matures or brings forth death. And on that very same line, I want you to notice that little graphic I have right there. And on the edge of a hook is a little barb, because the outside of that lure is just to catch their attention and get them to bite. But that barb is specifically designed once it bites, can't get off. There are so many layers of how sin and temptation help us to see the visualization of what's going on. For example, we have in Proverbs and Weersbe in his book, in this chapter, he said, bait keeps us from seeing the consequences of sin. And our thought is, well, so if you want a small fish, what kind of hook do you use? small hook, small one. And part of the danger is as we grow and mature in the Lord, our thought is, well, I eventually reached that stage where I'm past that temptation. But in fishing, Jeff, the bigger the fish you want, the bigger the hook you got to use. That's why the Bible says, let him that thinks he stand take heed. lest he fall. So again, it doesn't matter whether you're a new believer in the Lord and you're a little pan-fishy, and all that's needed, that little flesh, just a little bit of hook, or someone that's been saved for decades, and you are an adult in the Lord, well, again, our flesh, the devil, finds a bigger hook to use in that case. Proverbs gives us, both Proverbs 5 and Proverbs 7, give us this exact process. Proverbs talks about the strange woman as simply a picture of sin, And it says in Proverbs 7, with much seductive speech she persuaded him. That little lure, bright lure, she got that little guy going and all that brightness was there, all the flickering and all the colors. With her smooth talk, she compels him. All at once, he follows her as an ox goes to the slaughter. And notice what it says, and then just like one of those, it's caught fast. That little barb that's right there, the Bible usually uses a lot of verbiage like those that are a slave to sin. That once it is there, that there is a temptation that will not let go. We think of sin as a single act, but God sees it as a process. I thought immediately of Dr. Bob Jones Sr.' 's quote. He said, behind every human tragedy, there is a slow process of evil, wicked thinking. We see someone that falls and we think to ourself, you know, it seems like a shock to us. But what we find from what James says and from what we see all throughout scripture is that this is not a very fast thing. It is a process of very slow thinking over the course of time. For instance, we see in verses 14 through 15, but each person is tempted when, first of all, he's lured. That's simply the temptation that is presenting to us, and then enticed by his own desire, and then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and then sin, when it is fully grown, gives death. And we know that there's two different kinds of death that it brings. There's a physical death and a spiritual death, and our mind first of all goes to Genesis 3 where the devil said, surely you won't die, which that is where he was drawn – she was drawn away from truth because we know that that is not true. There's not only physical death. There's also spiritual death. Romans 3.23, the Bible tells us that the wages of sin – I'm sorry, 6.23, the wages of sin is… It's death. We could go into Romans 5.12. Romans 5.12, we read, Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all have sinned. And then we read Revelation 21, which I believe Pastor used a week or two ago, also talking about this. I thought a lot of examples in scripture. When you look at what James says about the process of sin, you could overlay it with story after story after story. The ones you guys already voiced was Adam and Eve. As we think about Adam and Eve, first of all, they were tempted by Satan. Did God really say this? But then on top of that, then she saw that the tree was good for food. She considered it a delight to the eyes, and then she was deceived into thinking it would make her look wise, and so she took it. the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. You know that his tactics still have not changed. He uses one of those three things, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. His tactics have never changed. Now, he might use a new instrument for it, but it's still those exact things. Add the example here of Lot. Our pastor in Baltimore would say this, that Lot was not a man who walked with God, Lot was a man who walked with a man who walked with God. There's nothing in Lot's life, although Hebrews calls him a just Lot, still hard to figure that out, we can see the progression of exactly what happens, this process of sin that happened in Lot's life. As we looked in Genesis 13, where Abraham said, we have to split. You go one way, I'll go to another. And the King James Version says that when he saw the well-watered plains, when he looked and he saw Sodom and Gomorrah, that direction, first of all, he saw and he considered. He lifted up his eyes and he desired, and he saw the Jordan Valley that was well-watered everywhere, deception. So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley and Lot journeyed east. He didn't go and dwell in the city. First thing, I believe that in the original King James, it says that he pitched his tent, setting it in that direction. He just moved just a little bit closer. First, there was a, that looks really nice, but then on top of that, then he chose, then he moved a little bit closer. So then verse 12, then Lot settled among the cities and then he moved even closer. We then find in verse number 14, that he was living in Sodom and that Abraham had to go and rescue him. And then right after that, like a dog returns to his vomit, he went back. So God already rescued him once from that. And then in chapter 18, we find that this is where God destroys Simon and more and still had to drag the man out. And we look and say, Lot, you've lost all sense of reason. Well, because behind sin there is a slow process of evil thinking that very much corrupts our minds and our thoughts. I just finished reading through Joshua, journaling through Joshua yesterday. And the story that stood out to me was Achan. He said, first I saw the spoil, lust of the eyes. And then I coveted them, lust of the flesh. And then I took it. I took it. Sin, someone that falls into sin, it is not a slow process. I'm sorry, it is not an instant process. There is a process of sinful thinking that has already been going on. When we think, when we are tempted with sin, We've got to step back and realize that, first of all, this temptation does not come from God. God is not tempting me with sin. I have to recognize that this sin is coming, first of all, from my own evil heart. That skews my mind, that skews the way I view things. I have to realize also that there is a price to pay. There's a price to pay when someone falls into sin. We find, again, in chapter number seven, with much seductive speech, he persuaded him, and then we find all that he is caught fast, and then as a bird rushes into the snare, he does not know that it will cost him his life. Must have been a double slide. And then there's a lot more that I think we can talk about. Going through verses 13 through 15 this morning, when we are faced with temptation, if you're not careful, you become really discouraged. become very discouraged. What we find also is that the gospel also gives tremendous hope when we are facing temptations, not just trials, but also sinful temptations. First, we find that the gospel can break the power of sin. As we think about sin that ensnares, sin that, just like that fish is hooked onto that barb, that the gospel breaks the power of man's, I'm sorry, of sin's power. In Romans 8, we are encouraged by reminding that we are more than conquerors. Because folks, we have the sin that's inside of us, we have the sin that's around us, and then we also have Satan himself that is pushing those lies and that deceit. But the gospel breaks the power of sin's power. Likewise, the gospel brings hope, not only in this life, but in the next. Romans 5.20 is one of my favorite verses. The Bible tells us, where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And then ultimately, the gospel brings peace and forgiveness over times where we have failed. Because we would like to look back and say that we've successfully navigated every temptation, but we know that's not true. We would like to make the claim that- Yes, yes. And we would like to say that moving forward that this is just, that it should be an automated process. When I'm tempted with sin, I should recognize this, this, and this, and we should distance ourself from it. But there's something about that lure. It's shiny. It's almost like it overpowers our senses, which is why I believe that our approach to temptation, that James gives us a great, a great beginning insight into things to consider. But then there's other things that Paul gives us, and then we see in Christ's example of how to fight the temptation, the spiritual warfare that we face. And then the idea of, well, when we do fall, when we do sin, and by the way, it's not if, it's when, because we already looked about that with temptations, trials and temptations. We find the incredible comfort in 1 John 1, 9, and of course in many other places, that if we confess our sins, that he is faithful and just to forgive us of those sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There are many other things that James gives us in the next couple verses for us to consider. In verse 16, verse 17, and verse 18, he gives us three more things that we should consider when facing temptation. And then likewise, prayerfully looking at also some things that Paul suggests to us about that as well as we see through Christ's response as well. And so, Sam?