James 1

Well, take your Bibles and turn to the familiar book now of James 1, the verses at the first that we detest, but we have to read over them, that considering it pure joy when you fall into trials. Again, like Philippians, this is a learning process. And so we're learning to rejoice in the Lord with Paul. We're learning to count it all joy in trials with James. And as you let the

Lord teach you that, you'll find some amazing things happening in your life. First of all, you'll find the endurance, the perseverance that he talks about here. And we'll find out today, you'll find that it's a blessing. It's a blessing that you can't receive any other way. And so I pray that for each of us that we'll glean these things more than just the understanding of the words that they will become rich and deep set in our own hearts.

We have considered down to verse 11. So we're going to look at verses 12 through 18 this morning. So follow along as we begin reading at verse 12 here in James chapter 1. He says, Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. When tempted, no one should say,

God is tempting me, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. And then after desire has conceived, he gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death. Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father

of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all that he created. Again, the header, so you can keep up with the idea that we're presenting as we teach through this. We're looking at James under the overall heading of the workings of faith, with the assumption that's implied here that if there is indeed a true relationship with the Lord, there will be workings as a result of that faith coming out in our lives. There will be the

workings, the things coming out of your life that are conducive, that are evidence of the relationship that you have with the Lord. And this, as I shared first service, can be proved on the earthly scene as well. When you enter into a relationship with someone else, when boy meets girl, or girl meets boy, because that's the way it's intended to be, you know, not boy meets boy and girl meets girl. But when boy meets girl, or girl meets boy, there is something that happens. And you can see it on the faces of those in that relationship.

I mean, they just, all of a sudden, there's like blank stares, you know, they're just, the eyes change, and the mouth curves up. And they're just things that they do for one another that they didn't do before. And those are evidences of the workings in that relationship. The love is coming out, and it's expressing itself to the people involved in the midst of that.

You don't have to wonder, you know, are they having, is there love there? You can see the exchange. You can see the workings that go on in the midst of that relationship. No different between us and the Lord. Salvation is entering into a love relationship with God. We make it too theological. You know, we talk about salvation, and it is being saved from sin.

Being saved from hell. Being saved from the consequences of sin. But more than that, you see, too often that's where people get stuck. More than that, it's being saved to a relation, a love relationship with God. And that's exciting. And if there is that love relationship with God going on, there'll be evidences of it in our lives. Others can see that, yes, but that's not

who it's intended for. God can see that, yes, but he knows already. He knows our hearts. He knows where we're at with him. It's intended for us. It's intended for us to be able to see and see, well, you know, I love watching the young people go through these. You think he likes me? Well, yeah, because this is happening. You know, this is going on. There's these evidences,

and it's to convince the people in the midst of that, that this is really a love relationship going on. So the evidences of, you can say you love Jesus all over the place, but there's no evidence of it. There's no evidence of it. There's no evidence of it. There's no evidence of it. There's no the place and jesus said to the pharisees in john chapter 8 if you love me you will keep my word

you'll obey my commands it will be evident in your lives you don't have to just tell me it'll be evident and so that's what james is is showing us the workings of faith if we're in a relationship with god these will be things that are happening in our lives and he's doing that for us for our benefits so we will know and if that's not happening we need to be seeking the lord because we've we've abandoned him we've like the ephesian church and revelation left our first love if this isn't happening and we need to remember from whence we've fallen repent and repeat our first works get back in that relationship maybe you've never entered that relationship maybe you have

just simply at one time responded to an altar call and prayed a prayer but there was no entering in there was no you just kind of were following everybody down the aisle you need to set your heart on the lord you need to come and out of love seek him and draw drawing پ drawn near to him that's what james is talking about throughout his book so we're looking at that overall headings the workings of faith and then in chapter one we're seeing in all of chapter one that the workings of faith those workings those works that we're looking for are revealed through trials they are revealed through trials and in verses 2 through 11 we have seen already the perspective of those trials we are to see trials in a different perspective paul told us

that in philippians james is telling us the same thing in in his epistle there is a proper perspective we're to have on trials we are first of all to evaluate them as being a joyful evidence that god is working in our life to mold us into the image of his son so we are to consider it joy when we face them and it doesn't make any difference our status in life you will not become rich and escape them you will not give everything away and escape them go into some ascetic asceticism you know that sets itself away from the things of society you can go into monasticism become a monk you will still be faced with these same trials so consider it as a joyful evidence that god is working in our lives to mold us into the image of the two какую 우리가 are т ваша

mix 130 17 17 18 19 20 20 21 20 through the trials. Now, he starts off here, blessed. Am I losing my mic? I lost my mic. I'm sorry. Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial. Let's stop there. Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial. If that sounds familiar, it should because it's the same statement that Jesus makes in the Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the meek. Blessed

are the peacemakers. Oh, how happy is what the word means in the Greek. Oh, how happy. Blessed, he says here, are those who persevere. Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial. Oh, how happy. Now, it's too easy to read this and think sarcastically. James is being sarcastic. Oh, how happy. Yeah. No, he's serious. There is a happiness and a fulfillment in life that comes

only through trials and through persevering through those trials. There is a completeness. There is a joy. There is a happiness. There is a fulfillment. There is a fulfillment that comes no other way than persevering through the trials. During the Great Depression, there were remarkably few suicides that occurred. Now, when the stock market first crashed, you read about people jumping out of buildings, hearing about the crash. There

were some of those. But relatively speaking, there was a low percentage of people that committed suicide. Families drew together. People helped one another. It was a time of rebuilding in our nation. And people drew together. People helped one another. It was a time of rebuilding in our nation. And people drew together. But today, in the midst of plenty, in the midst of the society

that has everything in the world, suicide is epidemic. People are dropping out. Suicide has become an accepted alternative. Things get tough. It's okay, people say. And it's just become epidemic in our society. Listen, trials do create an air of pessimism. But as a child of God perseveres in the midst of the trials, there is a happiness. There is a fulfillment. There is a

smile. That pessimism is changed. It's transformed by God. And James wants us to understand that because James has experienced both sides. I'm convinced that the writers of the epistles write from personal experience. They don't write from theological understanding. They don't write from seminarial training and expertise. They write from personal experience. And James is writing

from personal experience. Trials are a bummer. Apart from realizing that God's involved, apart from realizing with his strength, I can persevere and I can make it through. And it's as I do that, that I experience a joy that I will experience no other way in life. And it's absolutely necessary for my growth into Christ likeness. And so James wants us to understand the absolute necessity of persevering. He says,

happy, happy is the man who perseveres under trial because when he has stood the test, he says he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. Now, the word perseveres is the same word that was used back up in verse three. And verse four, the testing of your faith works, perseverance and perseverance must finish its work. It's the same word that's used up there. And it means to stay under, to remain under,

to remain under the trial, to continue to bear the trial. But listen, it doesn't mean to just tough it out. It's going to tough it out. I know James, I told you that James is like a Patton or like a Pastor Romaine, but it's not just a grunt, tough it out. You got to just tough it out because that's all there is. It's, it's a toughing it out. It's a staying under because,

you know, the results and knowing the results and the one who is in control of this, you want to be faithful to him because you love him because of the love relationship. You see Christians that walk strong in the Lord, not hypocrites. And we're all, we're all at that point at times, unfortunately, but as God works out the hypocrisy and we just become real, the realness is there because of the trials and we're persevering through them and God's developing realness. And it says, we understand that, that we persevere, we stay under because we love him.

And that's exactly what he says in this verse. We hang in there. It's a faithfulness to God because we love him. We're persevering. We're staying under because we love him. Now, is it possible to grunt it out and to make it through without loving him? At times, but first Corinthians 13 tells us that it's futile. Anything we do apart from loving is futile. Anything we do without love, toughen it out, making it through without love,

is futile. I'm going to make it through this job. I'm going to get through this schooling. I'm going to make it through this relationship. Without love, it's futile. I'm going to fulfill my obligation in this ministry. Without love, it's empty. It's futile. You see? So this, this perseverance that God's developing and that he wants us to see, he wants it to be the result

of our loving him. It's a faithfulness because we love him. And he says that he who has stood the test. If you're reading King James, it says he who has been tried. If you're reading New American Standard, it says he who has been tried. If you're reading New American Standard, it says he who has been approved. And that means literally that the trial is over. You've made it through now.

You've been faithful. He who perseveres and stands the test. Once the trial is over and his character has been revealed, he says he will receive the crown of life. Now, what is that? Is it just crown of life? That's neat. What do you think of when you hear the crown of life? You picture a little crown with little jewels in it. What is the crown of life? James didn't mention this just to throw

it in. We'll get a crown of life. Okay. He meant us to consider. What is it? What is the crown? What is he talking about? The crown of life. He who perseveres faithfully because we love him will receive the crown. What is that? And why did he mention it? Well, let's consider that because it's important to consider. He wants us to consider it. He wants us to know that this is a possibility. He wants us to know that and consider it. It evidently is key

to persevering or he wouldn't have said it. First of all, let me give you what the crown of life is not. The crown of life is not eternal life. It has nothing to do with eternal life. Why? Because this is a reward for enduring the trial, persevering through the trial. You will be rewarded with the crown of life. It's a reward to be given the crown of life. He who perseveres and stands the test

and loves me will receive the crown of life. And eternal life is a free gift. God gives us that freely due to the atoning work of his son on the cross. He gives us that. We don't merit it. We can't work for it. Enduring temptation doesn't gain us eternal life. The only way that's received free gift when we realize God opens our eyes. We realize we're in sin. We are a sinner. We can't

save ourselves. We need his help. We need the work of his son on the cross. And we say yes, Lord, to the free gift that he's handing us. We receive that free gift of eternal life and we have that gift. It's free. This is not eternal life. This is dealing with life and that we need to understand, but it's not dealing with eternal life. As I mentioned, this is a reward. It's a reward for

enduring temptation, for enduring the trials. And listen, rewards can be won and lost. Salvation can't because it's a gift. If I could merit it, I could lose it, right? If I had to do something to get it, then if I didn't do something, I could lose it. But when I didn't do anything to get it, when he gave it to me free, there's no way I can get rid of it once I have it. The Lord has

given that to me freely and I have entered into. See, eternal life is not, this is not eternal life. And you go, oh, thanks. You know, I've got my eternal life. I'll put it on my table. You enter into eternal life. It's a state of being. So you can't not be in it. You see, you can't not have it. You can't walk out of it because then it wouldn't be eternal. It'd be,

you got the five minute life, you know, you got the 10 day life, however long you can hang in there. And when you didn't merit it in the first place, there's nothing you can do to undo it because it's not based on merit. It's not based on what you did or didn't do, what you can't do. It's a free gift given to you, but rewards can be gained or lost here in James. Go to the right

here to revelation chapter three, revelation chapter three, talking about crowns here, revelation chapter three to the church of Philadelphia. Jesus is speaking in chapter three, beginning with verse seven and down in verse 11, Jesus says to the church of Philadelphia, I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have so that no one will take your crown. Him who overcomes, I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Now the candlestick is

his presence. Remember that the candlestick is his presence among the church. That's not what he's telling them. They're going to lose. He's telling them they're going to lose their crown. It's a reward. It can be one. It can be lost. So as we look at the crown of life here, we need to realize that's a reward. It's a reward for enduring temptation. It can be one. It can be

lost. Evidently, it's something that comes as a result of our doing something. Now the Bible talks about degrees of punishment in hell. It also talks about degrees of rewards. It talks about taking the one servant and beating him with few stripes because she just didn't know, you know, and the other one beat with many stripes. And also the same thing with where rewards are concerned.

There are places that it talks about the degrees of rewards. I want to show you this in a couple of places. Go with me to Matthew 25. I'll show you two parables this morning that are similar yet different. They are similar in intent as far as... results, but they're different in context, different in content, in what's being mentioned. They look like the same parable. You read them in the different gospels, and that's where people

say, well, the Bible contradicts itself because in Matthew 25 it says this, and in Luke 19 it says that. But I want to show you this. Matthew chapter 25. There are degrees of rewards implied for believers. Here in Matthew chapter 25, there are three servants, and you know the story. The master is leaving. 25.1 says that at that time, the kingdom of heaven will be like. And then down in

verse 14, he says, Again, the kingdom of heaven will be like a man going on a journey who calls his servants. He entrusts his property to them. To one he gave the five talents of money, to another two talents, to another one talent, each according to his ability. And then he went on his journey. And the man who received five, you know that. He went and he invested it, put it to work for him, and gained

five more. So they did the one with two, the one with one, dug a hole in the ground and hit it in the ground. The master returns. Here comes the guys. He presents the first one, presents the five that the master gave him, and this is the five that he subserviently gave him. And then he subsequently earned. The second one presents him with his two, and the two that he subsequently

earned. And the master says to both of them, Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share in your master's happiness. Now, there are two different degrees of fruit that's produced by these guys, but the rewards seem similar. I'll put you in charge of many things. You've been faithful in

a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. The emphasis here is that the rewards are given due to the degrees of the master's happiness. The rewards are given due to the degree of faithfulness. It has nothing to do with the amount that was given them. It's how they were faithful with it. There's a degree of things that have been given, and we'll talk about that

in just a second, and a degree of fruit that's different. There are different degrees, but there was faithfulness involved, and so there's a reward that's coming in proportion to the faithfulness with what they had. You can hold your finger here so you can flip back and forth if you want to. Now look at Luke 19. Luke chapter 19. Rewards are implied. Degrees of reward are implied

according to faithfulness. Faithfulness with what was had. And now Luke 19 appears to be the same parable, but it's not. It's a different parable, and I want to tell you about the two here in just a second. Let's go through this one. Luke 19, beginning with verse 11. While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable because he was near Jerusalem, and the people thought that the kingdom of God was

going to appear once. Same topic as before in Matthew 25. Kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God, they're the same thing. And he said, a man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. And so he called 10 of his servants and gave them 10 minas. A mina, according to your footnotes here in NIV, was three months wages. So it's a

significant sum. And he put his money to work, and he said, put this money to work, he said, until I come back. But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, we don't want this man to be our king. He was made king, however, and he returned home. And they sent for the servants. Now the servants and the subjects are different people. We're servants. If you're born

again, you're a servant of Jesus Christ. Subjects are the non-believers, everybody else in the world. They don't want Christianity. They don't want Jesus to reign. And that's evident, right? Even in this country, becoming more and more. Okay. So the servants come. The first one said, sir, with your mina, I've earned 10 more. Well done, good and faithful servant, his master replied, because you have been trustworthy in a very

small matter, take charge of 10 cities. Okay. Back in Matthew 25, it said, you've been faithful in small things. I'll give you charge over much. Now he's equating that to cities. So this idea of rewards has to do with substance, something I'm in charge of, and evidently rulership, cities. So somehow the crowns imply rulership. They imply authority. And the second one comes, verse 18, and he says, sir, your mina has gained five more. He said,

same thing. You take charge of five cities, and it's in proportion as to how they invested the minas. Okay. Now, before I lose you, some of you are kind of gazing off, and what does this have to do with James? Hang on. Crown of life, remember. Rewards for service. James is talking about the reward of the crown of life for enduring temptation. Okay. Here you've got, in Matthew 25,

I believe you're dealing with believers who have been entrusted with God's spirit, availability of the spirit of God. We'll talk about, we can talk about the rest of that later. And you have been gifted with God's spirit. Each person who receives Jesus Christ receives the Holy Spirit, the fullness of God. And it's the spirit of God who manifests his gifts and talents

through you in your particular sphere of influence. Now, the one guy had five, and another guy two, and another guy one, and he's showing according to their position or according to their area of influence. And so, you see, you're a minister of his first and functioning as a whatever you are second in your job. And so, he's gifted you in proportion to your function, in proportion to your position, in proportion to wherever he's placed you. Some may be just in a small business with

just a few people. It's more a blue-collar type job. Maybe you're just a mom at home. There's no such thing as just a mom at home. But maybe you're a mom at home, and you think, I've got no sphere of influence. You've got your kids. And that may be the two talents, the area of the spirit where he's gifted you to minister to your kids at home. That's your sphere of influence. Now, he will

judge us for rewards according to the faithfulness of God. And he's gifted you to minister to your kids at home. So, there are rewards implied for everything that we do with the gifts and talents that God has given us by his Holy Spirit in the areas of influence for his glory. Luke 19, everybody's given the same thing. There's 10 minas. Each of the 10 servants were given a mina.

It wasn't split up. They all received the same gift, and it was a very valuable gift. Three months wages. What's the most valuable thing we've been given? Our salvation, the gospel of Jesus Christ. And everyone in here has the same gospel. It's like each of us has a mina. We all have the gospel. We can all tell somebody about Jesus Christ. Now, to the extent that we do that,

it apparently affects whatever authority and position we're going to have in the kingdom of God. Okay? So, what Jesus is doing in the gospels and what James is doing here is telling us not to be satisfied with just getting saved and then going on about life like God isn't around, and then expect when we're going to be saved. And that's what we're going to do. And that's what

we the kingdom of god is here okay you know put me in charge of 10 cities i'll take the east coast see that's that's what i think some people have the idea of is god is just a safety net he's a safety valve to get me out of trouble so i go on about my life and salvation is the key and then i go on about life now salvation is the beginning but we've been entrusted with the gospel we've been given the holy spirit who works through us giftedness for others and to the extent that we share our faith to the extent that we minister the gifts that god has given us is the extent to which you and i will serve him in his kingdom and there's a warning not to be satisfied with

complacency not to be satisfied with laxness everything you do do it heartily is under the lord that's a that's a call for excellence let me ask do you do you just kind of do things to get them done you know are you kind of like the carpenter that just cuts out the things to patch a hole or do you seek to fix what's broke do you worship the lord with your whole heart or is it just a matter of doing things to get them done you know are you kind of like the carpenter that kind of a whole thing you do do it with your whole heart as unto the lord is what we're called to do and that's what he's calling us to do here because the result is rewards and the proportion of that

is according to how faithful we were to him while we were here to those who love him and persevere james says he'll give a crown of life are you in a relationship with him are you in a relationship with the lord right now are you seeking his face do you seek do you want to seek to know him more because the extent i believe i've james or jay brody mcgee says that he believes that the crown of life is a degree of life and authority in heaven which is particular to you and your experience of christ while here in this life let me say that again he believes that the crown of life is a degree of life and authority in heaven which is particular to you and your experience of christ while here in this life it's going to be different from someone else because

they will have a different experience with the lord you see one of the things that satan wants us to do is grab uns朋션 satan beg radio and the golden ball and bring them into the beautiful is to become satisfied in our relationship with God. Does that sound like Satan? You think Satan wants to cut us off? Well, in a sense, when you have a business, it's a nice business, a big business in town, and I come to you and I say, Hi there, boy, I think you're doing a great job.

I really admire you. I really respect the job that you're doing in this town. I think you're just the greatest. You know, I really love you. I really, you know, really like you a whole bunch. And then I go off about my things, and the rest of everything in town fails. All the businesses fail, and I come to you, and I say, Okay, here I am. I think you're a great guy.

I want to work for you. Are you going to make me vice president in your company? But if I come and I say, I really admire you. I really like you. I like the way you do things. I just see so much in you that's just awesome, and I want to work for you, and I'll do whatever. And you say, Okay, fine, start sweeping the floors. And I say, Okay, I love to sweep floors.

Sweep floors is great. I heard this the other day. I can't remember who told this. I don't want to tell it, but it's already been told here. But the guy, this is kind of a parenthesis in the middle of that, came in, and he just graduated from college. That's where I heard it. It was a graduation yesterday. Just graduated from college, and he walked into the store for a job,

and the manager said, Well, here, here's a broom. Go ahead and start sweeping the floors. And the guy said, No, wait a minute. You don't understand. I just graduated from college, and the manager said, Oh, that's right. Here's how you sweep a floor. But I say, Boy, I really admire you. I'll do anything. You say, Here, sweep the floors. I say, Okay, I love to sweep floors.

And then you say, Well, you're doing real good sweeping the floors. Here, why don't you take the mail out and take care of the mail? And I say, I'd love to take care of mail. I'll do the mail, whatever. And I'm doing a good job with the mail. And you say, Well, here, why don't you start answering the phones? And I said, I'd love to answer phones. And besides that, I'm sweeping and doing the mail.

And then you say, Well, here, somebody else can do that. You just make sure they're doing it right. I say, Okay. And I do that, and I'm answering phones. And then you say, You know, I want you to start calling these guys for me and asking them about this product that we sell. And I say, Okay, fine. I'd love to do that. And he said, Well, I'll put these people under you there,

and they can answer the phones, and you can be in charge of calling these other people. Okay. And then all these other businesses in town close down. And I say, Here I am. And you say, Fine. You know, you've done such a good job with sweeping the floors and doing the mail and in charge of the phones and taking care of. I'm going to put you over here in charge of.

You'll be the vice president in charge of marketing. Why do we think it's going to be any different with the Lord? Why do we think somehow that we're just going to be here on earth? And I love you, God, and you're a great guy doing a good job. You know, and then I'm going to go about my business and having fun here and appeasing myself. And then everything shuts down.

Kingdom of God comes, and we say, Okay, God, here I am. Put me in charge of 10 cities. Why do we think that's going to happen? Because Satan has lulled us into thinking that. He's lulled us into a satisfaction with our relationship with the Lord. Don't be satisfied with your relationship with the Lord. David said, I just want more. I want to dwell in your courts.

I don't care if I'm just a doorkeeper. I want to be there. I just want to seek you. Jesus said to seek and to keep on seeking, to knock and to keep on knocking, to ask and to keep on asking. James is going to tell us to draw near and keep drawing near. Don't be satisfied in your relationship with the Lord, with where it's at right now. There's so much more.

And I believe and I agree that the crown of life is going to be that degree of life that you'll experience with Jesus there that you've experienced with him here. 1 Corinthians 3, Paul tells us that there's going to be some that get there, but they're going to smell like smoke, like they've just missed the flames. You know, they've been scorched a little. They're going to make it there.

Are they going to be in charge of 10 cities? Not how I see it. You know, they're going to be spending time going, Wow, you really are pretty neat, Lord. And we're all going to be developing our relationship with God, but he's not going to give them authority over something when they've never even trusted him before. They barely got there. So James is telling us the same thing.

Blessed, happy is the guy who perseveres through these trials and who loves the Lord because when he gets there, he's going to get the crown of life. You're going to receive a quality of the degree of your relationship with the Lord that's awesome, that's proportional to your faithfulness here and an authority there. Okay, have I just muddied the waters so totally? Well, let me muddy them some more.

Go back to James. In verse 13, he says now, When tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Okay, let's stop there. That's enough to confuse us all. Now there are trials and then there are trials. Okay, the word trial here in verse 12,

blessed is the man who perseveres under trial is the same word in the Greek in verse 13 and 14 that's used as tempted. Same word, periosmos. Verse 12, blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, periosmos, a noun. Now in verse 13, when tempted, periosmos in the conjugated verb and five times in verses 13, when tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me, for God cannot be tempted by evil, neither does he tempt anyone, but everyone is tempted when by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.

Same word. What's the difference? When is a trial a temptation and a temptation a trial? They're spoken of in this section as being used two different ways. One used by God to strengthen us, one used to bring forth sin. What's the difference? Okay, every difficult thing, that comes into your life either strengthens you because you faithfully obey God and remain under because you love him

and you're trusting him and you're obedient to him in the midst of that difficult circumstance or it leads you to doubt God and to disobey him, which is sin. Let me say that again. Every difficult circumstance that comes into your life will either strengthen you because you faithfully obey God, you faithfully trust him, you persevere, you hang in under, or you will doubt him and doubt his promises and doubt his caring for you and disobey him to solve it yourself, which is sin. The difference between a trial and a temptation is how we respond to it.

See? The difference between a trial and a temptation is how we respond to it. Are we going to persevere through it? Are we going to hang in under faithfully seeking him, faithfully hanging in under, faithfully seeking him, faithfully seeking him, faithfully being obedient to him because we love him? Or are we going to doubt him? He doesn't care for me. I'm out.

I'm going to go seek my own blessing in this thing. I'm going to take it into my own hands and I'm going to handle it. And you're going, well, wait a minute. If a trial is a temptation, it's not my fault. God's the one that brought it along into my life. That's why he says, verse 13, when tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me. He knew where we'd go.

James knew exactly what we'd say. He's not my fault, man. You know? Literally in the Greek, it says, no one should say to himself or no one should say to himself no one should excuse himself because man's tendency is to blame somebody. Adam, why did you? It's the woman you gave me. Eve, what? It's the serpent that beguiled me. Why are you involved in this? Because of my upbringing.

I'm a victim. I'm a victim of abuse. I'm a victim of an alcoholic family. I'm a victim of a poor family. I'm a victim of living in Kansas. I'm a victim of, you know, I'm a victim. It's not my fault. And where's the ultimate blame going? God, it's your fault. You know, if only I'd have been rich. Or it's your fault. Why'd you make me rich? You know, I got all these problems with my money.

We blame God. And James says, now, when the temptation comes, when you're tempted, don't blame God. Don't say God is tempting me. He says, for God cannot be tempted by evil nor does he tempt anyone. God, listen, God has no capacity for evil or sin. He has no capacity. And that's why we have to consider the nature of God, the character of God. He has no capacity for sin.

And therefore, he's not vulnerable to sin. What happens when sin is in the presence of God? Vaporized. Moses said, I want to see your face. God said, you can't. If you see my face, you'll be incinerated. You'll die. Because no flesh shall see my face and live. Why? Because sinful man. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Why? Because you can't live

in his presence in this. Hey, God, you're gone, you know. God said to Moses, I can. I'll put you in the cleft of the rock. I'll cover you with my hand. I'll pass by declaring my name. I'll take my hand away. You can see my backside. That's all you can see. And even then, Moses glowed to seeing the backside of God. He was in the presence of the consuming fire.

God cannot coexist with sin. That's why God had to take the sin from us and lay it on his son and incinerate it. When God poured his wrath out upon Christ, there was an incineration there. There was a burning there. There was such an intense fire that consumed that that we can't imagine what Jesus endured on the cross. When the Bible says that God has taken our sins

and thrown them as far as the east as from the west, that's figurative. There is no place he can throw them that he's not. It just shows us that he's removed them as far as the east is. As far as the east is from the west to us is a straight line that goes on for infinity. There's nowhere that sin is anymore as God has taken our sin and put it on Christ. He has incinerated it.

He has destroyed it. He's consumed it. So sin cannot live in the presence of God. God cannot then tempt. He can't tempt with evil. He can't tempt to sin. It's not part of his character. It's not part of his nature. Therefore, he can't delight in evil and so he can't tempt anyone. The progression of sin begins with us. We're going to go a little long here so hang with me.

I'll be as long as I can. The progression of sin begins with us. Look at verse 14. Tempted when by his own evil desire he is dragged away and enticed. Each one is tempted when by his own evil desire he was dragged away and enticed. A man was lost in the hills of Arkansas as the story goes several years ago and he didn't know where he was. If you've ever been

through Arkansas it's easy to do. And he came up over this hill and he came down and he was coming into a small town and there were some boys playing along the side of the road and he pulled up and he said, pardon me, can you tell me where I am? And the boys looked at him kind of puzzled and one of them said, there you are. It reminds me of Peter Pan. There you are, Peter.

We fall into sin and we say, God, who has tempted me to do this? And God goes, there you are. It's every, each one is tempted. Each one. Everyone, it says in some of your translations. Or every man. The troubles within each of us. All of us. Nobody's exempt. It's not from outside. Oh, but it's my environment, Lord. You don't know what I was raised in. Fine.

You know, if I'd been placed in a perfect environment with no possibility you know, say, a garden where there's beautiful trees around and I could eat of any one of them, it would have been great. I wouldn't have ended up like this. Sure, okay. How about Eden? No outside influence makes us sin. He says, each one, each man, every one, when by his own evil desires

is dragged away and enticed. The word enticed is an interesting word. It's a term used for catching fish with bait. Every person then is tempted when the trap of sin is baited with that which appeals to our lust. Well, what pulls on the bait? What draws me to that bait? It's not God, obviously. He just said that. God's not the one who tempts. And listen, it's not Satan

or his demons or the world's system, although they bait the hook. What draws us to grab the bait is the lustful nature within each one of us. It's the sin within our own flesh. It's that lust of satisfying our own flesh, our own flesh hunger. The word here for evil desire when by his own evil desire is the word epithumia in the Greek and it means the strong desire

of the soul to enjoy or to acquire something. You see, each day we have that, be it cookies or brownies or TV or lusting after someone or lying to save our own behind or gossiping to talk about others to make us feel good. Each of us is enticed, is led away to feed our own flesh. And again, by his own evil desires we are enticed by the lust that implies that the nature of the lust is unique to you.

You may be drawn after drugs and alcohol. It doesn't entice me at all. There's things that entice me that won't entice you, that are drawn after you. So each one is drawn off by his own evil desires. Now, do you think just possibly James desired Jesus' presence in the family, Jesus' position? Do you think that maybe James wanted to be number one? Do you think James

didn't like being second born or third, whichever way? I think he's probably second born. I like being second born. Second born gets more of the why can't you be like your brother than the rest of them. Why can't you do what he does? Why can't you be good like him? Why can't you say things like he does? Why can't you take out the trash as often as I ask as he does?

Don't you think James might have just said, I want to kill it. You know, I just want to kill it. I want to be number one. I want to be first. And that led to a lot of the things that he probably did. I think so. Evil desire here plus the temptation equals conception of sin. Verse 15. Evil desire dragged away and enticed and then after desire has conceived it gives birth to sin.

Evil desire. The desire. I see something. I want it. Then there's the deception that happens in your mind. I can justify having that. You know, I see those brownies on the counter. I want those. I shouldn't eat those but I haven't had any for a long time and I really won't have any more after I eat those. So I can just eat those. Okay. Then there's the design.

I figure out how to get those. It's real easy. I just walk over and take one. I grasp it and that's interestingly enough what the word conceived means. It means to grasp together. It means, it's figuring out how you can get what you want and then comes disobedience, the act of taking. That's the act. You see, sin is a progression. It's not an act. Sin is a,

that's why Jesus could say any man who looks on a woman to lust after is committed to adultery with her in her heart because it's a progression. If you're looking that way and there's a desire, the desire plus the temptation conceives sin. It's like an egg in a sperm. The desire and the temptation brings about conception and that bears sin which is disobedience to God which bears death.

Full grown sin, he says, gives birth to death. That's an oxymoron. Have you ever thought about that? Full grown sin gives birth to death. An oxymoron is two words sitting next to each other which really don't make any sense. Jumbo shrimp. Military intelligence gives birth to death. It's kind of a hard thing to conceive of in your own mind. Give birth to death.

But he wants us to consider there's a death that happens. Now to a non-believer he's already dead. His physical body is walking around but he is spiritually dead. He is headed for eternal death. He is dwelling in the midst of the world. He is dwelling in the midst of death. To a believer who sins when we and that's what he's writing to sin when we as believers

are drawn to our own evil desire, our own soul that's wanting something, sees something, tempted by it, that temptation plus the evil desire conceives sin which manifests itself in the action itself. It brings forth death. It's separation from God. Separation from that fellowship with the Lord happens in sin. And Jesus said in John 15, apart from me you can do

nothing. Nothing. So he says in verse 16, don't be deceived. Don't be deceived. The word there means to wonder or to roam about or to stray. Don't wonder from the truth. Don't stray from the truth. It's amazing in my own life but it's amazing to me. You hear people say, I know what God wants me to do but I know what the Bible says but I know that this is what a Christian should do.

This is what it says in here but I'm just not going to do it. I'm going to go do this. James says, don't be deceived. Stay under. Persevere because you love him because you know he's going to give you the crown of life once it comes through because if you don't, the evil desire mixed with the temptation to be disobedient to God, you think, I'm going to cut this person off.

I'm going to just be done with them or I'm going to just do this because I want it because I want to get it and I know what God's word says but I'm just going after it. Don't do it. Don't be deceived, James says. It ends in death, separation. You're separated from God. Fellowship with the Lord. Long lasting consequences. Don't wander off. Don't be deceived.

Don't stray from God doubting his promises. We need to bring our thoughts into captivity under Christ, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10. That's what we're going to do. That's our spiritual warfare. That means we are actively seeking God's will, actively meditating on his word, actively taking time to spend with him, to develop that relationship with him. Colossians 3, 2 says,

let your mind be set on things above, not on things of the earth. That's an action. It's an activity. You and I have to do it. Colossians 3, 16 says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. That doesn't just happen. We have to spend time with the Lord, beating on his word, letting him set that word inside us. And that's what he does in verses 17 and 18.

Quickly, he says, think about this. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who doesn't change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created. Fill your minds with God and the things of his nature. The word gift there

is from two Greek words. One word means the act of giving itself, dosis, and one means the object that is given, the word dorema. In other words, the act of giving that God does and the object that he gives are perfect and complete. You don't need anything else. God has given you salvation. The act of the way that he gave that plus the salvation itself is perfect

and complete. You don't need anything else. But he's not only giving you that, he's giving you his grace and his mercy and his peace. He's giving you the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. He's given those to you and the way that he's done it, the act of his giving it and those gifts themselves are perfect and complete. There's nothing else that we need.

But our mind says, I need this. I gotta go get that. So you have to fill your mind with realizing what God has done. He is the perfect giver of gifts. He knows my needs. He'll take care of my needs. He'll give me the strength to bear under, to persevere because I love him. He knows my frame. He knows the extent of what I can take and I love you, Lord. And I don't want

to stray from that. You've been faithful. Every good gift comes down from the Father of lights to the Jewish mind. The Jewish mind, the Jewish reader understands that and that's the mind that James was writing to. It was referring back to Creator God, Yahweh, the Creator of the heavenly lights of the sun and the moon and the stars. That that he told Noah until those things passed away,

God would be faithful to his covenant.

You see, when sin entices, when the temptation comes and the evil desires there within our heart to satisfy ourselves because we're focused on self, we've been looking at self and what self hasn't had and self hasn't been able to do and all of this stuff. Then when the temptation comes, the hook is there. Man, we just grab. We realize that the Lord's in control and we're saturating ourselves with the things of God, with the things of his word.

We desire to grow our relationship with him. We desire to be in his presence. We desire to know more of him because things aren't as appealing. It says he chose to give us birth through the word of truth that we might be a kind of first fruits of all that he created. He chose you and he chose to give you birth and somehow you heard the word. Somehow you heard that gospel

that was entrusted to the servants, that one minor and you respond. You see, the necessity of our going out, the necessity of being sent out, you and I go out, in the sphere of existence in which we're in and use the gifts that he's given us and share the gospel so that others can hear and respond. He chose you and by the hearing of his word, you responded and he's made you part of the offering to the Father, to all that will believe. You got to keep reminding yourself of that because the days are evil and they're going to get worse.

Things are really going to move, I feel, I believe, after the first of the year. They're already starting to move in a downward direction and it's with a spiraling effect. Whenever you take a hose and you channel water through a smaller hose, it makes the pressure more intense. We're narrowing down to the coming of the Lord and you're channeling all of this stuff that's happening now down to a smaller focus because the Lord's coming soon.

The intensity of it is increasing and it's really going to get intense after the first of the year. You talk about temptation and or trial. How you and I respond to it is going to determine what it does to us. I'm not a fisherman. I've fished. I'm not a fisherman. But one thing I learned from my dad is that fish that have eaten don't take bait. So there's certain times

that you fish because the fish will have eaten. If you go out a little bit later and start catching, you can sit out there and cast your lures out there all over the place and the fish won't hit because they are already full. They've already eaten. Have you feasted on the Lord? Are you feasting on His Word? Have you eaten today? Are you going to eat tomorrow?

Because the fish that has eaten is not tempted by the hook. Father, help us. It is intense. It's an intense time. You've warned us of that. You've told us that these things are coming. You tell us now the perspective we're to have on these things as they come and that we're to persevere. We're to hang in there. You won't give us any more than we can bear. You've already given us

every perfect gift that we need to endure. You've given us the strength for it. There's a reward promised as we endure. We just need to think about the blessings of who you are, your nature, your unchangeableness. You will bring about those things that you've called us to do and that you've called to happen in our lives. And you call us now not to wonder from that truth,

not to stray from it, not to try and solve things on our own, but to trust you because we love you. God, help us. Help us to do that as things increase. The intensity increases. And Father, if there's anyone here this morning that may have prayed a prayer and walked an aisle, but their relationship is non-existent with you, may they take this time to just enter into your presence,

to come and to dwell, and to begin establishing those wonderful times that happen in that relationship with you. May we see the workings of faith in our life, Lord, as we have that wonderful relationship. For it's in Jesus' name that I pray. Amen. Let's stand together.