in the name of Christ our Savior. Amen. We turn again to the book of James, James chapter 1. And as you turn there, we welcome one and all. Let me thank you for joining with us in the house of God. And then those that are joining with us via Facebook Live, we welcome you. And Sermon Audio, we welcome you in our Savior's name. Thank you for allowing us into your home. or wherever you're joining with us tonight. We appreciate it, and maybe you'll be able to let us know where you're watching in from at some stage, but we trust that you'll just give your wholehearted attention now to the preaching of God's word. So we're in James, and we're going to read from the verse 12 of the chapter. It says, that endureth temptation. For when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death do not err my beloved brethren we'll end there at the verse number 16 of this first chapter now up until this point in james letter god's servant has been dealing primarily with the subject matter of the saint and the trials of life. In the verses 1 through to 12, James deals with the people who are called upon to endure trials, brethren, and those who are scattered abroad. He speaks also of the purpose of our trials, the perfecting, the maturing of the saint of God. He speaks of the wisdom that is required in our trials that we might read the trials are right and not charge God foolishly. He then brings to our attention a number of examples, some practical examples of the trials that these individuals were facing, namely the trials of prosperity and of poverty. And in verse number 12, we didn't deal with it, but let me just say that this is the reward of those who triumph in their trials because we read there, blessed is the man that endureth temptation or the trial for when he is tried at the end of it all he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Thank God after the trials of this world are over and as we endure and persevere and be constant in our walk there is a crown The crown of life that will be given to everyone that will endure life's trials and temptations. Now James comes to a new section within his letter, a section that runs from the verses 13 down to the verse number 16 and there he deals with the issue of the saint their temptations. I don't know if this was in the mind of Joseph Scriven when he wrote his great hymn, What a Friend We Have in Jesus, but in his second verse he brought these two thoughts together, the trial of the saint of God and the temptations of the saint of God. And he said, have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? Now, again, we might sit down and maybe scratch our heads and wonder, what's the connection between what we have before in James, what we have already spoken of, the trials of the Saint of God? What is the connection between the saints' trials and the saints' temptations? Is there a connection? Well, I believe that there is a connection, and this is the connection. Every trial has the potential of becoming and developing into a temptation. Every trial has the potential of developing into a temptation. Now let me give you an example where that is found in the word of God, where that actually happened in the life of an individual, the father of the faithful, Abraham. You'll know in Genesis chapter 12 that Abraham, he enters the land of Canaan and there discovers that a famine is ravishing the land. As a consequence of that famine, the father of the faithful was unable to obviously provide for his family, naturally speaking, as well as the herds and the flocks that accompanied him into the land of promise. Now at that moment, it was a trial. It was a trial of his faith. Was Abraham going to believe God and stay in the land where God had told him to stay, or was he going to do something outside the will of God? And so at the juncture of Genesis chapter 12, it initially is a trial for Abraham. But we all know what happens. Abraham decides to go down into Egypt, and there he suffers at the chastening hand of God for doing so. He allowed the trial to become a temptation or a source of temptation to which he would succumb to and do that which was contrary to the will of God. Anthony E. Byrd in his commentary on James said, what James presents can be thought of as a basic paradigm of growth and decay. Trials may lead either to a cycle of growth. towards Christian maturity or into one of decay leading to spiritual death. In one cycle, diverse temptations lead to the trying of faith, which then in turn work patience. The finishing of patience is a desired outcome of the individual being perfect and entire, wanting nothing. That is what we have in the initial verses of James. But conversely, those very same trials may inflame lust within, which once conceived bringeth forth death, and that sin, when it is finished, will bring forth death. And so, there are two ways in which we can respond to the trials of life. And if we respond in a manner that is not befitting the gospel of Christ and against the will of God, then our trials will become temptations. They will eventually develop into a temptation, just as it was in the life of Abraham. And so tonight, we simply look at the saint and their temptations. And I only have two points this evening for the message. First of all, the source of temptation. And secondly, we'll look at the subtle day of temptation. Let's first think then about the source of temptation. Now, before James deals with the source of temptation, he firstly wants to establish a very important truth And the truth is where temptation does not arise from. Now when I speak of temptation, I'm speaking about temptation to sin. And James is very specific and very careful where the blame for sin's temptation must not be placed. Notice what he says there in verse 13. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God cannot tempt with evil, neither tempteth he any man. In other words, and in simple terms, James is saying to these people that they are never to lay the blame at the door of God when it comes to the issue of sin's temptation. James emphasizes this because This would be at times the natural response of fallen man when it comes to temptation to sin. You see, sinful man likes to push the blame on to others, and even at times on to God Himself. You'll recall what Adam and Eve did when sin found them out in Eden's paradise. They shifted the blame away from themselves, and they tried to pin it on another individual or another entity. Genesis chapter 3 the verse 11 and 12 if you want to turn there and he said God speaking to them God Interrogating Adam and Eve now having come down into the garden at the cool of the day and And God said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the fruit tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. Eat, and so Eve blames the serpent, and Adam blames God, and Eve, and none of the guilty parties wish to take the personal responsibility for their own sinful actions and their own sinful decisions. And that is often, sadly, the case at times in our lives that we always want to try and find a scapegoat to pin our actions on in an attempt to avert all responsibility for what we have said or what we have done. We see this happening in society, in our own lives as well. We see it happening in public inquiries that are held by governments. We see it happening in family feuds among children. He did it, no, he told me to do it, and we find that nobody did it at the end. We find it in church disputes. When things happen and erupt within church fellowships, one person blames another person, and then the other person blames someone else, and at the end of the blame game, nobody is responsible for anything that's happened, and therefore, nobody is held to be accountable for it. The shifting of blame is as old as time itself. Adam did it, Eve did it. However, James states here that there is one person that we can never shift the blame onto when it comes to temptation to sin, and that is unto God. Let no man say, let no man say when he is tempted that I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man. Our temptation is not God's. fault or temptation to sin. Albert Barnes, he said, the passage before us is explicit on one point, that God does not place inducements before us with a view that we should sin or in order to lead us into sin. The real force of temptation is to be traced to another source, not to God. It isn't that God dangles temptation before us. in order, as it were, to see whether we will succumb to sin's temptation. That is not the source of temptation within us. James states that God Himself cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man." And so James is now developing his reasoning. He is showing here God cannot tempt man with temptation or that he is tempted of God for. Now he's reasoning it out. And what does he appeal to in his reasoning? He appeals to the nature and the character of God. to the nature and to the character of God. God's righteous nature is infinitely opposed to all that is evil and cannot be tempted by it himself. His nature is infinitely holy and cannot tempt man with anything then that is evil. The whole of God's nature militates against sin. Just think of it. If God was the one who caused and would cause us to sin, then He couldn't charge us with that sin because He would be complicit in the sin that we have just committed. It would really be God's fault. If God would tempt us to sin, we could push the blame on God. But God cannot tempt us with sin. It's against His very nature. T. Somerville said, Now someone might say in this meeting, well, did God not tempt Abraham? when he was there on Mount Moriah. Did God not tempt the children of Israel in their wilderness wanderings? Did God not tempt Job to try his faith and his patience? And these are examples of God tempting and trying his people, but he does not tempt them to sin. God is not tempting these individuals to sin. He's not soliciting His people to sin. God is testing, yes, their faith, no doubt about that, but He is not causing His children to sin in the temptation or in the trial. You see, the temptation to sin comes from another source that is outside of God. And what is that source? Well, James is very clear. where this source of temptation rises. Verse 14, but every man is tempted, every man without exception, when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Now, as I've said, society has programmed us into blaming other things and other people for our sin. The modern world would have us to blame the environment which we're living. Others would say it's my genetic code or it's my DNA that's causing me to sin. Maybe some would say it's really the examples that I have before me with regard to my parents With regard to my neighbors, others would say, well, it's really the social class to which I belong. Maybe it is because of my financial standing within society. Maybe it's my friends, my companions. It's really their fault. And so we like to blame other things. But you know, folks, where the blame game ends? Do you know where, is it where the buck stops? At our door. at our heart, with us, with ourselves. We must find the blame where God places the blame. It is with ourselves. This is the reason why we yield to temptation. This is the reason why temptation finds such a force and a draw with regard to ourselves because of our natures, because of the flesh, and the battle that rages within these hearts and lives and souls of ours. Thomas Watson said, the heart of a man is the Trojan horse out of which comes a whole army of lust. John Calvin wrote that James' object in this section is to teach us that there is in us the root of our own destruction. Don't forget, James is writing to the brethren here. Verse 16, do not err, my beloved brethren. These are not unsaved individuals. Ah, but this section is reminding us of the danger that is within. That's magnetism, draw that we have within these souls of ours to yield to lust and to the passions of the flesh and to go on a journey that only God knows where that journey will ever end. So James points the finger directly, the finger of blame directly at our own lust. They are the culprit of our sinning. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust. Note the inspired writer does not say that we're drawn away by lust, but by our lust. He's not speaking about outward lust. He's speaking about the inward lust, the old nature, the old nature. Within each of us, there is that bent towards lust. There is that lure that we so often sadly succumb to and swallow the bait of temptation that leads us eventually to sin. We need to remember always that there is a traitor within us. Your greatest enemy is not some individual out in society, not some Christ rejecter or God denier. Your greatest enemy, my greatest enemy is self. The old man, the old nature, the direct agent and responsible cause for sin then is our own lusts. And Paul writes about that inner enemy in Romans chapter 7, passage you could read at your own leisure, that enemy that causes us to do things that we shouldn't do and not doing those things that we should do. And so really the source is within. It only but reacts to that which is without. And therefore, if our and since our own loss is the enemy, we must then ask the question, how then do I as a Christian triumph over this natural propensity that is within me to yield to sin and to sin? How do I triumph through this? How do I become more than a conqueror through him? Well, the Bible gives us very clear instruction and guidance on the matter. We can triumph, brethren and sisters, over our lusts by refusing to let our lusts gain and obtain the upper hand in our lives, but instead we are to let Christ obtain the ascendancy. Romans 6, verse 11 and 12, likewise reckon ye yourselves to be dead on to sin, but alive on to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey the lust thereof. Romans 13 verse 14. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. Make no provision for it. flee from all sources of temptation and sin, and put on the Lord Jesus Christ, we can triumph over our lusts by living and walking under the influence and the control of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5 verse 16, this I say then, walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. There's the answer. the infilling of the Spirit of God, living in the victory of the Spirit, knowing His daily infilling day by day, not by you trying, although there takes that personal effort, yes, but it is to be done by the Spirit, to be walking in the Spirit and by the Spirit and through the Spirit. Something else crucifying the flesh that'll help us triumph over over the lusts, Galatians 5 verse 24, and they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and the lusts. Denying and fleeing and abstaining from all lusts is another way we can triumph. Titus 2 verse 12, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. 2 Timothy 2, 22, flee also youthful lusts, Follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 1 Peter 2 verse 11. Deny, flee, and abstain. There's personal work to be done. This enemy will raise his head. You think of Noah. Not in a great faith, but at the end of life's journey, we find him as a drunkard. I tell you, age and length of time on the journey on the road of life and the Christian narrow way is no, as it were, barrier for a man to fall into sin. This is daily, this daily denying, this daily fleeing, this daily abstaining from the lusts of the flesh. bringing the body under subjection, under the reign and the rule of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the source of sin's temptation, and this old heart of mine, and your heart. But having identified the source of temptation quickly, we consider the subtlety of temptation. It's highlighted in two terms. that James will use in verse 14, the terms drawn away and the term enticed. These are hunting and fishing metaphors. They explain what happens when we are tempted to sin. The first term, drawn away, speaks of a hunting lure that is used to draw an animal out of its hiding place. smelling the scent of that particular lure. That animal comes out of its place of hiding and now finds itself in line, in line, the hunter's line of sight, having been attracted by the lure. This is what sin's temptation does. It tries to draw us away from the place of safety, right into the crosshairs of the enemy. This is the metaphor that's being used. The second term, enticed, this is a fishing metaphor. It pictures the skillful angler casting the fly at the end of the fishing line, giving it just enough tug in the water and against the current and against the reflecting light. So then that fish is enticed out of a rock and into a place just to inspect the lure. And there the fish, it finds that lure attractive only to find whenever it bites it, behind the lure is the hook. And it's caught. It's trapped. In both cases, subtlety. is involved by Hunter and Fisher who conceals that which is dangerous until it's too late for the prey, and they're caught, they're snared, they're entrapped. And does this subtly not bring us back to the devil, the great subtle one, in all of his subtlety as he comes into the garden of Eden, And there he casts away the lure. He gets her to look upon the fruit. It's pleasant to the eyes. And then he holds out the prospect that they'll become like unto God, the knowers of evil and of good. It all looks so appealing. It all looks so attractive. And then she bites the fruit and finds a death, spiritual death. He's right into humanity, both Adam and Eve as they sin, but it's too late. They're caught in the snare. Such is the case with sin's temptation, that hidden danger behind every temptation that causes the believer to be enticed and drawn away from God who is our refuge, who is our place of hiding, and we find ourselves exposed to the enemy. and were found in his crosshairs, and another saint is wounded, and another saint falls, and another saint brings disgrace because they did not yield to the Spirit. They did not abstain and flee, but rather they played fast and loose with sin and temptation. Temptation is so subtle. It never informs its victim of the end result. And it all starts with a life cycle. It all begins so, so small. Look there, it says, but every man is tempted, verse 14, when he's drawn of his own lusts and enticed and then lusts. It starts this cycle, lust when it is hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished, it bringeth forth death. Death, the waves are set in motion. And it's like a rock rolling down a precipice, just gather speed. creates devastation in its wake. There's only but a glance, David, wasn't it? On the rooftop of your palace, just a glance. It became a gaze. became a thought of lust that caused me, caused David to take another man's wife and to lie with her and to then engineer the death of her husband on the battlefield only at Lent, wasn't it? Preachers, only a little, a little waywardness, a little slackness in my Christian life But where will it end? Where will it end? Now, it may end in physical death. I don't say that as a threat, but I do read in Scripture about those who ate at the Lord's table, or attempted to do so. And Paul would write there, for this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep. They lived rebellious lives and God took them out of the world. But it will lead to death with regard to your fellowship with God. There'll be a death in it. It'll be as where a spiritual deadness will come into the life. Such is the danger of yielding to temptation. And so whatever temptation comes our way, we need to close our eyes to it. We need to refuse it. Immediately, we need to flee from it, just like Joseph there in Potiphar's house. He didn't wait around, but he immediately got himself out of that particular place of temptation. He was a young, red-blooded man, I'm sure. He was. He was in his early 20s. There it was, sitting for him right there on the plate. but he was a man in whom the Spirit of God dwelt, and he fled the place of temptation. Brethren and sisters, this preacher is no different than you. Temptations come my way as they come your way. Within this heart of mine, there is a potential for me to yield to that sin, not temptation to sin. We need to remember the end. Is that not what we need to do when we think about, should I, should I not, in that moment of time when God gives the way of escape? Because do we not read there in 1 Corinthians 10, there has no temptation taken you, but as such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it. This may refer to the trials of life, but could we not apply it? to temptation. Is it not the case whenever sin comes knocking on the door, the temptation to sin, there is that moment, that split moment, do I yield or do I flee? In that moment, brethren and sisters, remember the end of sin, death, the deadness with regard to your walk with God. You don't want that. And so, do not err, my beloved brethren. Do not err, my beloved sisters. Knowing the danger that succumbing to sin's temptation brings, let us flee. Let us be in our guard against temptation, lest it sweeps us away. Lest it sweeps us away. What are we to do? Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The next time temptation comes our way, may God help us to shun the bait. As the saying goes, it's better to shun the bait than to struggle in the snare.