1 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:06,160 Welcome to the Islands Christian Church podcast. 2 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:08,880 Subscribe to hear a new episode every week. 3 00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:15,040 Thanks for joining us. All right, so we are in a James 4 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:16,400 series. I don't have a Mother's Day 5 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:18,440 message. And so if that's what you're 6 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:21,640 expecting, sorry, but we're in a we're in a, we're in a series on 7 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:23,440 the book of James and we've got to keep marching. 8 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:25,080 Otherwise we'll be doing this for about four years. 9 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:29,160 And so today we are going to be in James chapter 1 verses 12 10 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:31,320 through 18. If you want to go there and hold 11 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:32,960 that if your Bibles and your phones, that'd be great. 12 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:34,080 We're going to walk through that text. 13 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:35,800 But I'm going to ask you a question as we get started. 14 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:38,520 Have you ever tried to stop eating sugar? 15 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:40,560 Who's who's ever said I'm going to stop eating sugar? 16 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:42,480 All right. Yeah, yeah, I get it. 17 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:44,960 Have you ever tried to stop eating junk food in general? 18 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:45,480 Right. Just. 19 00:00:45,480 --> 00:00:46,520 I'm going to stop eating junk food. 20 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:47,120 Yep. Yep. 21 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:49,600 You know what? It goes really, really well. 22 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:51,640 As long as you're not awake. Have you noticed that? 23 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:55,440 As long as you're not awake, man, you dominate it. 24 00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:57,120 It's great. Seriously. 25 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:01,400 You can resist the temptation to eat sugar and junk food until 26 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:04,400 you are tired, hungry or stressed, right? 27 00:01:04,599 --> 00:01:07,200 And when you get tired, hungry or stressed, if you guys notice 28 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:11,800 the the colors of like of packages like Oreos, imagine the 29 00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:14,240 Oreo package right now for me, do you guys see that blue and 30 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:16,000 white, right? Then the Bisco red. 31 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:19,200 Do you guys see that? Is it amazing how you do you all 32 00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:21,320 who craves Oreos in a glass of milk right now? 33 00:01:21,320 --> 00:01:23,240 Like double stuff for me, please, right. 34 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:26,800 Like I, you know, I when you're tired, you're hungry, you're 35 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:30,440 stressed, you it doesn't matter. You just go after the chips. 36 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:32,840 You tear them open before you know what you've eaten the whole 37 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:36,560 bag and you think to yourself, I am a horrible person, right? 38 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:40,200 Or you like the the ice cream is in the freezer calling your name 39 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:42,760 and you can't say no to it. The the fact of the matter is, 40 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:47,240 as we all understand the idea of temptation when it comes to 41 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:50,240 trying to eat healthy. We just understand it 42 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:52,880 instinctively. And today we're looking at what 43 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:56,440 James says about temptation in his letter to some Christians 44 00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:58,840 who are facing difficult circumstances. 45 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:01,360 Now, last week what we discussed was trials. 46 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:04,600 And what we said last week was that trials have the capacity or 47 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:08,080 the ability to grow you in your faith that they have the ability 48 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:10,199 to make you complete was the language we used. 49 00:02:10,199 --> 00:02:12,280 And we said last week that what that basically, basically means 50 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:14,160 is integrated. That when we walk through 51 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:17,600 difficult trials and difficult seasons, that God can use those 52 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:20,200 to grow our faith and to integrate our faith and to make 53 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:24,360 us into a whole person. But we also said that how you 54 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:26,920 respond to those trials make all the difference. 55 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:29,960 In other words, if you respond to those trials by looking for 56 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:32,760 God's wisdom, which is what we said, seeking God's wisdom and 57 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:35,720 what God says it, that by seeking God's wisdom and 58 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:39,160 aligning your life with God's wisdom and his ways, that's how 59 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:42,520 you experience growth in trials. In other words, trials are not 60 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:45,520 necessarily automatic growth producers. 61 00:02:45,920 --> 00:02:49,920 How you respond to them is the key because the flip side of 62 00:02:49,920 --> 00:02:52,640 trials is this. If you don't respond looking for 63 00:02:52,640 --> 00:02:56,120 wisdom, the flip side of trials is that they have the potential 64 00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:58,560 to create an occasion for temptation. 65 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:03,160 So a trial that God intends to grow your faith can be flipped 66 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:05,960 over because you don't look for God's wisdom, you don't look for 67 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:09,520 submission to God, and it can become an occasion for 68 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:12,880 temptation. You see, trials do not leave you 69 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:15,520 neutral. They either they either push you 70 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:20,880 toward trusting God or they create conditions where you are 71 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:23,680 tempted to trust something other than God. 72 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:27,040 So let's jump into the text and I'll show you what I mean. 73 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:30,600 James chapter 1 verses 12 through 18. 74 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:32,600 Little bit of a read here, but I think you guys have it. 75 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:35,320 You ready. Blessed is the one who 76 00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:38,960 perseveres under trial, because having stood the test, that 77 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:42,760 person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised 78 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:46,080 to those who love him. When tempted, no one should say 79 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:49,200 God is tempting me, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor 80 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:52,240 does he tempt anyone. But each person is tempted when 81 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:55,600 they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 82 00:03:56,040 --> 00:03:59,840 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, 83 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:02,080 when it is full grown, gives birth to death. 84 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:05,520 Don't be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 85 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:09,600 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the 86 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:12,600 Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like 87 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:15,400 shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth 88 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:19,079 through the word of truth that we might be the kind of first 89 00:04:19,079 --> 00:04:21,839 fruits of all He created. Now, if you're a note taker and 90 00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:23,760 you like to write things down, here's the big idea this 91 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:26,760 morning. Temptation is the battle over 92 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:29,480 what you trust to satisfy your heart. 93 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:33,440 Temptation is the battle over what you trust to satisfy your 94 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:35,520 heart. Super simple, that's what it is. 95 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:38,520 It's the battle over what you trust to satisfy your heart. 96 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:41,080 There are three ideas we're going to unpack from this text. 97 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:44,080 I like to tell you this because if you know these three things, 98 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:46,160 you know where the message is going and you know how close we 99 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:47,320 are to being done. Amen. 100 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:51,040 All right, so first of all, you need to know what it is, how it 101 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:53,480 works, and why we must resist it. 102 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:57,640 So what is temptation, how it works, and why we must resist 103 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:00,040 temptation. So first of all, what is 104 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:02,040 temptation? Now, temptation is different 105 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:04,520 from a trial. Trials are part of the natural 106 00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:06,400 occurrences of life. They're part of the broken world 107 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:08,720 we live in. They often times come to us from 108 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:14,120 outside of ourselves. God uses and allows and actually 109 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:16,960 is sometimes the cause of the trials in our lives. 110 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:20,240 In other words, God intentionally causes trials in 111 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:23,880 our lives. But this is different from 112 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:26,760 temptation. Here's a working definition of 113 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:29,200 temptation. For us, temptation is the 114 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:33,680 opportunity to trust something other than God to satisfy your 115 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:36,440 heart. Temptation is the opportunity to 116 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:39,320 trust something other than God to satisfy your heart. 117 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:42,320 Now, what we tend to think is temptation is the opportunity to 118 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:44,200 do something evil, to do something bad. 119 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:46,800 But that's not necessarily the case. 120 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:49,480 Temptation isn't always an opportunity to do something evil 121 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:52,440 or do something bad like we think of morally bad. 122 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:56,560 Temptation is simply an opportunity to trust something 123 00:05:56,680 --> 00:05:59,680 other than God to satisfy your heart. 124 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:03,120 That means temptation is really about desires. 125 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:08,120 It's about desire and desires are not bad. 126 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:10,920 We all have desires. We were born with desires. 127 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:13,960 They're, they're, they're born, they're, they're inside of us to 128 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:16,520 have desire. And, and it's easy to think, 129 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:18,520 well, if I have desire for something, I'm automatically 130 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:19,720 bad. But that's not the case. 131 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:24,200 Desire itself is not bad. What happens is when we start to 132 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:28,920 pursue anything other than God to satisfy our desires, that's 133 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:31,360 when things go bad. So think about it this way. 134 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:35,120 When you take something that's maybe good and you turn it into 135 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:38,560 a thing that's ultimate for you. Like you think this is what 136 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:39,920 matters more than anything else to me. 137 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:43,160 Like maybe your career or the company you lead, right? 138 00:06:43,840 --> 00:06:46,480 And you think I, this is what matters more than anything else. 139 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:50,040 And you take this, this harmless thing, this even good thing, and 140 00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:51,640 you turn it into an ultimate thing. 141 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:54,440 This is where destruction comes into us. 142 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:58,160 This is how temptation works. So temptation is about desire, 143 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:00,640 and desire is not necessarily bad desire. 144 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:06,120 We're born to desire things. So here's another truth about 145 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:08,280 temptation as we talk about what is temptation? 146 00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:13,280 Temptation itself is not sin. It is not sin to be tempted. 147 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:17,680 That's important to know. Jesus himself was tempted. 148 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:22,000 Hebrews 415 says that Jesus was tempted in all the ways that we 149 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:25,400 are, and yet he was without sin. So we cannot say to be tempted 150 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:29,240 is equal to sin because Jesus himself was tempted and he was 151 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:33,680 without sin. Now I know, I get it. 152 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:36,400 Sometimes we feel like there's this war inside of us. 153 00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:38,600 There's this thing that we're constantly tempted by. 154 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:41,640 There's this thing that comes at us over and over and over and 155 00:07:41,640 --> 00:07:46,040 over again, and we might be prone to think because we can't 156 00:07:46,040 --> 00:07:49,800 overcome that desire and we're constantly tempted by that thing 157 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:52,600 to satisfy those desires with something other than God. 158 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:54,720 Like we, we think that that's always coming at us. 159 00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:58,280 We might think that that we're just terrible and that we're 160 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:02,400 sinful, but temptation and being tempted is not sin. 161 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:07,720 So in addition to temptation not being sin, there's also 162 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:10,200 something about about temptation that we need to say. 163 00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:14,200 Temptation is universal. It's universal. 164 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:19,480 Paul says in First Corinthians 10/31 that temptation is common 165 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:22,120 to man. In other words, everybody 166 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:26,800 experiences but but everybody experiences temptation. 167 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:32,000 But temptation is also personal. It's personal. 168 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:35,159 So it's universal, but it's personal. 169 00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:37,039 And this leads us to our next idea. 170 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:39,200 All right, So what is temptation? 171 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:41,520 Secondly, how does temptation work? 172 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:44,840 How does temptation work? So if temptation is personal, 173 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:46,680 what do you mean, Stephen? How does it work? 174 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:51,040 Well, according to James, the text, he says that temptation 175 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:55,320 originates from inside of us. Temptation originates from 176 00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:58,840 inside of me. And then he makes it clear God 177 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:01,560 does not tempt you. God cannot, cannot be tempted 178 00:09:01,560 --> 00:09:04,360 and does not tempt us. God is not setting a trap for 179 00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:05,600 you. Like in other words, when you 180 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:09,240 have a desire that you're prone to, to, to meet that desire with 181 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:12,040 something other than God, that is not God setting a trap for 182 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:15,040 you. So temptation comes from inside 183 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:16,520 of us. What does that mean? 184 00:09:16,680 --> 00:09:21,160 Temptation comes from our bent nature, our crooked nature, our 185 00:09:21,680 --> 00:09:26,320 bent nature. All of human beings are fallen. 186 00:09:26,560 --> 00:09:30,280 There's the the fallen reality of creation and we're all part 187 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:34,120 of creation and we are broken and we are bent in that. 188 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:36,600 What James is saying, he actually uses the word evil. 189 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:40,000 He says we are tempted by our own evil desires. 190 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:43,600 And what that what he's trying to say is that we are all prone 191 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:47,360 to corruption, that all of us have desires that can be and 192 00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:51,120 often are corrupted. Did you guys know this? 193 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:53,600 Have you ever heard somebody say, hey, just follow your 194 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:55,360 heart? Have you ever heard this advice 195 00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:56,320 before? Follow your heart. 196 00:09:56,760 --> 00:09:59,160 Now as a Christian, you immediately say, I can't do 197 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:01,680 that. The prophet Jeremiah said the 198 00:10:01,680 --> 00:10:03,920 heart above all things is deceitful. 199 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:06,640 Who can understand it? So just memorize that. 200 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:09,360 And so when some well meaning friend says, hey, you should 201 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:13,480 just follow your heart, you just reply by going, I really can't 202 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:16,600 do that. The heart above all things is 203 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:18,360 deceitful is what the Bible says. 204 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:21,360 And this is hard for us to believe because we are living in 205 00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:26,120 a culture, a current kind of cultural malou that says no one. 206 00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:27,800 You can't trust anyone more than yourself. 207 00:10:27,960 --> 00:10:30,480 You are the best expert for your own life. 208 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:32,600 You are the best guide for your own future. 209 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:36,400 Trust you and trust no one else. But the Bible says that's bad 210 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:39,840 advice. Your own heart, your own heart 211 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:41,720 will deceive you and lead you astray. 212 00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:46,840 And so because humanity is fallen, we are all bit and that 213 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:50,320 bit nature affects us. This is why temptation comes 214 00:10:50,320 --> 00:10:52,320 from inside of us. So how does temptation work? 215 00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:56,160 First of all, it comes from inside of us, comes from inside 216 00:10:56,160 --> 00:11:00,040 of you, inside of me. Now, James uses the imagery of a 217 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:04,480 lure here, a lure. For context, we could think of a 218 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:07,080 fishing lure. When you fish and you use 219 00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:11,000 artificial bait, your goal is to entice the fish to bite the 220 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:13,320 hook. James says that there is 221 00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:17,760 something inside of each of us that entices us to, to have our 222 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:20,080 desire met by something other than God. 223 00:11:20,560 --> 00:11:23,960 That it, that we are, we are LED astray by our own desires, by 224 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:28,120 our own enticement in, in, in, in deception. 225 00:11:28,160 --> 00:11:30,920 The the, the fishing language, the lure language is so good 226 00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:36,040 because great fishermen are good at creating deception. 227 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:40,360 They're really good at it. And I've, I've done a couple few 228 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:43,680 different types of fishing. I've done some deep, you know, 229 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:45,800 ocean fishing once, once out in the Gulf. 230 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:48,640 And that to me didn't feel very sportsmanlike. 231 00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:50,800 We chum the water. If you're one of these guys, 232 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:51,920 please don't take offense at this. 233 00:11:51,960 --> 00:11:54,800 I don't mean to offend you, but it didn't seem very sports. 234 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:58,120 And like we chum the water and then we threw some squid down on 235 00:11:58,120 --> 00:12:00,960 a hook to the very bottom of this really long, you know, 236 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:03,440 really deep place. And and then a fish bit it and 237 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:05,640 we run. We fished, we brought it in. 238 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:10,200 I mean, it was like, I mean, we tricked. 239 00:12:10,280 --> 00:12:12,080 I mean, I guess it was deception there, but it didn't feel all 240 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:14,080 that. It didn't feel all that like 241 00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:17,000 sportsman to me. But then I've been fly fishing 242 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:20,760 in the mountains for trout, for like for bows and for Brooke and 243 00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:25,280 brown. And now that they tell you what 244 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:28,880 color clothes to wear, right? Make sure you wear earth colors 245 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:31,360 because the fish can see you, right? 246 00:12:31,680 --> 00:12:34,720 And as you're fishing, how you lay, how the line hits the 247 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:37,840 water, how the fly hits the water, if, if the line hits the 248 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:40,160 water too heavy, if the fly hits the water, it makes too much of 249 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:42,000 A splash, forget it. The fish is like, you're an 250 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:43,680 idiot. Nobody, nobody believes that's 251 00:12:43,680 --> 00:12:47,200 real, that that fly has to lay perfectly on the water. 252 00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:51,240 And, and what a guy told me once, he said, he said, the 253 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:54,080 better fisherman you become, the better at mending the line and, 254 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:56,800 and creating deception for the fish, the bigger fish you'll 255 00:12:56,800 --> 00:12:58,720 catch. And he said the reason that is, 256 00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:01,040 is because the young fish, they're idiots. 257 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:04,120 They fall for anything. They're just stupid, like, oh, 258 00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:06,280 look, there's a, there's a, there's a bug and I'll eat it. 259 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:09,000 The old fish. They can tell the difference, 260 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:12,600 right? And, and good fly fishermen in 261 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:15,320 the mountains and in, out in Colorado, these good fly, they 262 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:17,640 have become masters at deception. 263 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:21,360 And what we tend to think is that someone else is trying to 264 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:24,160 deceive us, right when it comes to temptation. 265 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:27,360 But what James says and what the Bible teaches is that it's not 266 00:13:27,640 --> 00:13:32,160 someone else is trying to deceive us, It's us deceiving 267 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:35,080 us. It's US lying to us. 268 00:13:36,280 --> 00:13:42,280 It's we we are lured away by our own evil desires. 269 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:45,600 Now, earlier I said that temptation is universal. 270 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:49,720 But I also said that temptation is personal because each of us 271 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:51,960 are different. Each of us have different 272 00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:54,960 desires. So what tempts one person will 273 00:13:54,960 --> 00:13:58,360 not tempt another. But we are all susceptible to 274 00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:01,680 temptation in different ways. So think about it like this way, 275 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:05,040 what will catch 1 fish won't catch another fish. 276 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:08,800 There's a specific lure, a specific artificial bait for a 277 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:14,080 specific fish. And you, you, you are prone to 278 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:16,000 some desires and not prone to others. 279 00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:18,960 This is why we have to have grace for one another. 280 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:22,040 So when you hear about someone who's made a mistake, who's 281 00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:25,120 given into temptation and messed up things in their life, never 282 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:27,320 look down on that person for their failures. 283 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:30,800 Never look down on them for giving into the temptation 284 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:34,760 because just just because it's not a deception you would have 285 00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:38,640 fallen for doesn't mean that there's not a deception out 286 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:44,280 there that you would fall for. This is really important that we 287 00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:47,360 don't look down our nose at those who fail and fall prey to 288 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:51,200 temptation because it's just a matter of time before a custom 289 00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:53,880 built temptation is coming for us. 290 00:14:54,920 --> 00:14:59,680 So temptation is deception that happens inside of us based on 291 00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:05,280 the unique desires we have, and we are lured into trying to meet 292 00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:07,800 those desires with something other than God. 293 00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:13,400 That's just a summary. And this is where James says sin 294 00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:15,680 comes into the process. And the word sin always makes us 295 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:17,640 feel funny. That's in verse 15, makes us 296 00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:19,760 feel weird to hear the word sin. And we're like, ah, you know. 297 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:23,000 But remember, the word sin is just a Greek word that means to 298 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:24,760 miss the mark. It's an archer's term. 299 00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:27,240 It just means you're not perfect. 300 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:30,520 It means you don't pull the bow and hit the target every single 301 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:33,120 time. And matter of fact, at our 302 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:34,880 church, we don't even allow perfect people. 303 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:39,080 So if you're not perfect, then we're we all agree that we have 304 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:40,960 sin in our lives, that we all miss the mark. 305 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:45,960 This is what James is saying. James is saying that we take an 306 00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:48,160 action. So we have a desire. 307 00:15:48,160 --> 00:15:51,160 We have this desire that we want to have met something inside of 308 00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:54,680 us, and then we take an action to meet that desire. 309 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:58,880 But the action we're taking does not include submission to God, 310 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:01,080 surrender to God, or trusting God. 311 00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:05,480 When we do that, when we say I have this desire and I want to 312 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:08,400 meet this desire, but it's not going to include submission to 313 00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:13,000 God or surrender to God, that action I take is called sin. 314 00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:15,680 Super simple. It's called sin. 315 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:19,080 It's me saying God, I have this itch that I need to scratch and 316 00:16:19,080 --> 00:16:20,600 I'm not going to look for you to do it. 317 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:22,720 I'm not going to ask you to help me with this. 318 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:25,200 I'm going to ignore you in that moment. 319 00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:31,680 We commit sin. We commit sin because we believe 320 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:34,800 lies. We commit sin because we believe 321 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:38,280 lies, not because we're terrible, no good, bad people. 322 00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:40,640 And this is kind of what you're kind of used to hearing. 323 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:43,120 You're a Sinner because you're a terrible, no good, bad person. 324 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:45,360 I mean, I'm a terrible, no good, bad person, but I'm not going to 325 00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:47,240 speak for you. All right? 326 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:52,600 We, we commit sin because we believe lies. 327 00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:59,160 Every time we choose sin, we are believing something that is not 328 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:02,120 true about God. Every time we commit sin, we're 329 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:04,680 believing something that is not true about God. 330 00:17:05,119 --> 00:17:09,040 Lies like this. I will never be happy unless 331 00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:12,839 this desire is met. I will never be happy unless 332 00:17:12,839 --> 00:17:15,800 this desire is met. Now that's a lie. 333 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:18,720 That's a lie about God because you're saying there's something 334 00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:21,440 I need other than God to give my life fulfillment. 335 00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:24,760 I will never be happy unless this desire is met. 336 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:30,600 Here's another lie. God is not coming through for me 337 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:34,080 in this situation. God is not coming through for me 338 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:36,680 in this situation. That's a lie, and when you 339 00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:39,520 believe that lie, you're going to be tempted to meet your 340 00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:42,560 desire through something other than God, outside of surrender 341 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:44,600 to God. Here's another one. 342 00:17:46,120 --> 00:17:48,840 I have to take matters into my own hands. 343 00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:51,640 I got to control this. I got to figure this out. 344 00:17:52,360 --> 00:17:56,080 That's a lie that will lead you to meet your desire that you 345 00:17:56,080 --> 00:17:58,240 have through something other than God. 346 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:04,000 So very simply, we choose sin because we believe a lie, and 347 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:08,200 that choice impacts our lives very negatively. 348 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:12,600 Which leads us to our final idea this morning, why you and I must 349 00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:16,600 resist temptation. James says that temptation is 350 00:18:16,880 --> 00:18:19,400 incremental. Incremental. 351 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:25,720 It moves slow. In other words, you never hear a 352 00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:30,720 story about a godly person was living a godly life who out of 353 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:32,800 nowhere did a terrible ungodly thing. 354 00:18:33,120 --> 00:18:35,640 Like you hear that story, but when you look into the story, 355 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:39,160 what you realize is that there was a lot of moving towards 356 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:42,560 ungodly stuff along the way, over months and years of their 357 00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:46,160 lives, right? Temptation is incremental. 358 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:49,000 We may think it's not incremental, but it's 359 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:51,560 incremental. This is what James is saying. 360 00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:56,560 Temptation slowly convinces us of lives, lies and lead, leads 361 00:18:56,560 --> 00:19:00,280 us more and more into deception about God and about our lives. 362 00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:04,320 Temptation drives us away from God in the life he offers. 363 00:19:04,840 --> 00:19:06,720 Look at verse 15. What does he say in the end of 364 00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:10,600 verse 15? He says and sin when it is full 365 00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:15,320 grown gives birth to death. Do you see that language full 366 00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:18,000 grown and sin when it is full grown? 367 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:20,560 If something becomes full grown, what was it? 368 00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:22,120 What was it in the process of doing? 369 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:26,280 It was in the process of growing on its way to becoming full 370 00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:28,560 grown. So this is the language James is 371 00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:30,760 saying he's going, hey, temptation is incremental. 372 00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:34,640 It starts out with small compromises, small ways of of 373 00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:38,040 meeting your desires through something other than God, of not 374 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:40,160 trusting God and trusting yourself more. 375 00:19:40,360 --> 00:19:45,040 And slowly over time, this temptation gets full grown into 376 00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:48,000 sin, a complete rejection and trust of God. 377 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:57,720 And what James is saying is that your temptation to trust 378 00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:00,720 something other than God is leading somewhere. 379 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:06,760 It has a destination. In other words, you're going to 380 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:10,960 arrive at a location one day. And often times you're going to 381 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:13,240 say, especially if you're a young person, you're going to 382 00:20:13,240 --> 00:20:16,720 say, how did I get here? How did I end up here? 383 00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:20,680 And James will say you are always headed there. 384 00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:23,640 This was the road you were always on. 385 00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:27,560 Don't be surprised that you arrived at this destination. 386 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:32,160 And what is that destination? James says That destination is 387 00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:34,640 death. Death. 388 00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:43,800 Here's if you take notes, here's 4DS that maybe help you remember 389 00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:46,680 this, How temptation works and why we should resist it. 390 00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:52,640 Temptation starts with a desire. I have something I have a desire 391 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:56,080 for. Then it moves to a deception. 392 00:20:56,840 --> 00:20:59,120 You have a desire, then you're deceived. 393 00:20:59,120 --> 00:21:02,200 A deception. And then there's a decision. 394 00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:05,080 A decision to trust something other than God. 395 00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:09,200 Who's been there? A decision to trust something 396 00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:12,200 other than God. And then the 4th D, there's 397 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:15,560 death. Those are the 4DS of temptation. 398 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:17,320 There's desire, there's deception. 399 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:21,720 There's decision, there's death. Now, what exactly James means by 400 00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:25,560 death is argued about among Christians, but I think we can 401 00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:29,640 all agree that it doesn't sound good, Amen. 402 00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:34,440 It doesn't sound good. I think James would say it's the 403 00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:39,080 opposite of the life found in Jesus, that Jesus came to give 404 00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:41,000 you life and life to the full, the abundant life. 405 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:44,920 That's what he offers us. And what James says is that you, 406 00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:49,040 as you reject the sustenance and the supply of God to meet your 407 00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:51,400 desires, as you say, no, I've got to meet my own desires. 408 00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:53,840 I've got to find something other than God to meet my desires. 409 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:57,160 As you do that more and more incrementally, it leads to this 410 00:21:57,160 --> 00:22:01,000 thing called death. I think of an idea with death. 411 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:05,960 I think of a parched soul. Have you ever lived your life, 412 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:08,640 if you're an older person maybe where you had a season of a 413 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:13,360 parched soul or an unmoored life out to sea? 414 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:18,920 And what happens is, is people begin to think, well, God's not 415 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:20,800 coming through for me. They believe the laws about God. 416 00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:23,160 They believe the laws about about who God is. 417 00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:25,720 And they start to think, well, I've got to meet my own desires. 418 00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:28,880 And they give into temptation. They make the decision to reject 419 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:32,600 God and meet their own desires. And what they think at first is 420 00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:36,400 they're happy. They think this is working. 421 00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:41,600 I didn't need God after all. And it seems as if their plan 422 00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:45,000 has worked. But what James is saying is that 423 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:50,600 eventually they will realize that their rejection of trusting 424 00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:56,240 God was always leading them to a desert of misery of their own 425 00:22:56,240 --> 00:23:01,680 choosing, and they don't know it until they're there in the dry 426 00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:07,760 sand. Resisting temptation to satisfy 427 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:10,280 the desires we have with something other than God is 428 00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:14,000 critical for you to experience the abundant life that Christ 429 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:18,560 gives you. So we know what temptation is. 430 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:22,000 We know how it works. We know why we must resist it. 431 00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:25,920 But James offers one final piece of encouragement today. 432 00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:31,120 He says to us in verse 16, do not be deceived, my dear 433 00:23:31,120 --> 00:23:35,280 brothers and sisters, can you hear his yearning for you? 434 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:41,000 Do not believe the lies that your own heart tells you, the 435 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:43,360 deception of the own lure in your own heart. 436 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:48,720 Instead, believe the truth about who God is and who God says you 437 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:52,880 are. First of all, he says God is a 438 00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:55,200 gift giver. He does not change. 439 00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:56,760 He's not like the shifting shadows. 440 00:23:57,160 --> 00:24:01,480 He can be trusted with all of your desires because God himself 441 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:05,760 dives deep into your heart and He shows you what you truly 442 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:07,800 need. And then once He shows you what 443 00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:11,080 you truly need, he offers it to you on a platter and he says 444 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:13,600 this is what you need and I'm giving it to you. 445 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:18,240 He's a gift giver. Our God's a gift giver. 446 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:23,120 And then James tells us to remember who we are. 447 00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:32,680 You are one He chose. Isn't that beautiful? 448 00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:40,440 You are one He chose, the text says He chose to give you birth. 449 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:47,440 You know what birth is. Birth is life contrasted with 450 00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:52,320 death. The temptation leads to death. 451 00:24:53,880 --> 00:25:01,480 But God chose to give you birth, to give you life through His 452 00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:04,400 Word. That's the gospel. 453 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:10,240 Through his promise of the gospel, God through his Son 454 00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:14,440 Jesus Christ, gave you life. And what is life that's 455 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:17,520 connected to Him? That's relationship with your 456 00:25:17,520 --> 00:25:20,720 heavenly Father. And here's the here's the 457 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:25,040 beautiful truth about Jesus. Jesus too, resisted temptation. 458 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:29,760 He refused to believe the lie, and he trusted his Father's 459 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:31,720 nature. And he trusted his Father's 460 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:35,840 nature all the way to the cross. I dare say none of us have 461 00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:39,840 trusted God so deeply as to be hung naked on a cross before a 462 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:45,320 crowd of people, but Jesus did. He trusted his Father's nature 463 00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:51,880 all the way to the cross where he would die to give to God his 464 00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:54,480 greatest desire. And what was God's greatest 465 00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:59,880 desire to have for himself a people you. 466 00:25:59,920 --> 00:26:04,720 And this is what James says in verse 18 in his last encouraging 467 00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:09,360 words of this section. He says that we might be a kind 468 00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:12,800 of firstfruits of all he created. 469 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:17,440 I wish you would go home and just read that section and sit 470 00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:21,320 with it and meditate on it, that you would be a kind of first 471 00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:26,440 fruits of all he created. You are the first harvest. 472 00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:27,560 Now. This is what this means. 473 00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:30,000 You are the first, That's what a first fruit is. 474 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,520 The first fruit is the the first harvest, the first picking and 475 00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:34,880 it's offered to God as a blessing. 476 00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:41,360 You as a believer in Jesus Christ are a first fruit. 477 00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:43,880 A first fruit of what? What's the harvest that's 478 00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:47,000 coming? You are a first fruit of a new 479 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:50,880 creation, a new heaven, and a new earth that's coming. 480 00:26:52,120 --> 00:26:57,760 What James is saying is that when we trust Jesus Christ that 481 00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:01,760 you are the evidence to all of the universe and to all of the 482 00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:05,360 creation order that there's a new day coming, that there's a 483 00:27:05,360 --> 00:27:09,000 new world coming, that there's new trees and new oceans, that 484 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:11,240 there's a new land and new mountains, everything's going to 485 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:13,680 be made new. You are the first fruits of 486 00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:16,520 that. What you, what you are 487 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:18,520 announcing to all of creation is this. 488 00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:22,840 God is faithful. He will keep His promise. 489 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:26,040 He will make all the world new because He's made me new. 490 00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:33,040 You can rest assured ocean and trees and valleys and meadows. 491 00:27:33,120 --> 00:27:35,840 You can rest assured. You will be made new one day 492 00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:38,960 because I am the first fruits of that new creation. 493 00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:44,160 I am the evidence that God will keep His promise and ultimately 494 00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:50,800 my friend, what is His promise? What is his promise? 495 00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:59,120 His promise is that in Christ He will fulfill your deepest 496 00:27:59,120 --> 00:28:07,080 desires, the desires that sit below your desires, the desires 497 00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:12,360 that feed the desires, the true longing you have. 498 00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:17,960 He will meet in Christ the longing for wholeness, peace, 499 00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:27,160 home, safety, safety, that all of these things will be put to 500 00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:37,240 right, and that one day all that you long for will be met in the 501 00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:44,600 Son Jesus. So in the meantime, let us 502 00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:50,280 resist the lies when the pool comes, when the lie whispers, 503 00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:53,600 when something else looks like it would satisfy you. 504 00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:59,920 Let us not be deceived by ourselves, My brothers and 505 00:28:59,920 --> 00:29:05,480 sisters. Let's trust that the God who 506 00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:13,200 saved us also will satisfy us in Christ our Savior. 507 00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:22,740 Will you stand with me? I'm going to pray over us. 508 00:29:25,780 --> 00:29:27,860 If you'd like to talk with someone, stick around. 509 00:29:28,500 --> 00:29:31,980 I'll be upfront. I'll be around. 510 00:29:35,300 --> 00:29:38,620 Sometimes it's helpful if you are in the midst of a battle 511 00:29:38,620 --> 00:29:44,160 with temptation, to just tell someone I'm dealing with 512 00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:48,360 something I'm tempted to trust, something other than God for my 513 00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:51,480 desires to be met. I just want to tell you, and 514 00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:55,120 this is my promise to you, if you come and tell me anything, I 515 00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:57,960 don't care how shocking you might think it is, I've probably 516 00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:03,240 heard it before. And I will respond to you with 517 00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:08,280 two words. Me too, me too. 518 00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:14,800 And then we'll pray together. That is the beginning of freedom 519 00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:18,920 from the deception. Say it out loud. 520 00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:22,360 Let's pray together. Father, thank you for this day. 521 00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:24,600 Thank you for the scriptures. Thank you for James. 522 00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:28,080 So practical, so helpful, so good. 523 00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:32,480 Thank you that he came around to believe in that his brother was 524 00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:36,680 the Son of God. Sure, that was a tough day for 525 00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:40,600 him. We're grateful, though, that 526 00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:44,320 we've that these words have been protected for us thousands of 527 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:45,480 years. Here we are. 528 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:52,960 Let us put them to practice. Let us let us be honest about 529 00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:55,600 ourselves and our own bent hearts. 530 00:30:58,080 --> 00:31:00,920 And Lord, if those of us who need to say it out loud, give us 531 00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:04,720 the courage to do it soon. We love you. 532 00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:07,320 We thank you for Christ. His name we pray. 533 00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:12,240 Amen. If you enjoyed this episode, 534 00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:15,720 please like and subscribe so you hear a new episode every week. 535 00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:20,120 You can also worship with us in person in Savannah, GA or watch 536 00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:24,160 our live stream on Facebook and YouTube every Sunday at 9:15. 537 00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:25,440 Have a great week.