Tests of a Living Faith: The Nature of Temptation

James 1:13-18

Message 2 in our 10-part series on The Epistle of James.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Speaker: Phil Hainaut

A. The nature of human temptation (1:13-18)1. The source of our temptation (v.13,14)

a. It is not God (v.13) When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone.

(Genesis 3:11-13) “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

(1Corinthians 10:13) No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

A. The nature of human temptation (1:13-18)1. The source of our temptation (v.13,14)

a. It is not God (v.13) b. It is our own evil desire (v.14) “… but each person is

tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.”

A. The nature of human temptation (1:13-18)1. The source of our temptation (v.13,14)2. The consequences of yielding to temptation (v.15)

“Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”

death

harlot

sin

A. The nature of human temptation (1:13-18)1. The source of our temptation (v.13,14)2. The consequences of yielding to temptation (v.15)3. A warning about being deceived (v.16) “Don’t be

deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.”

(Genesis 3:2-5) The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

A. The nature of human temptation (v.13-16)B. God’s benevolent activity in human affairs

(v.17,18)1. God is the continual, unchanging source of every

good giving and every perfect gift (v.17) “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

A. The nature of human temptation (v.13-16)B. God’s benevolent activity in human affairs (v.17,18)

1. God is the continual, unchanging source of every good giving and every perfect gift (v.17)

2. God is the gracious author of the believers spiritual birth to eternal life (v.18) “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.”

(Ephesians 2:1-3) As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.

(Ephesians 2:1-10) As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins… But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus.

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins… But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus.”

(John 1:10-14) “Though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins… But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ… in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace… For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus.”

(Romans 8:19-21) For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.