Good morning everybody. I turn
to James chapter 1. We'll be reading verse 13 through
15. James chapter 1 verse 13. Let no man say when he's tempted
that I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with
evil. Neither tempteth he any man.
But every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust
and entice. Then when lust has conceived,
it brings forth sin. And sin, when it is finished,
brings forth death. I know it seems as if we're not
moving too fast here, but it's important for us to understand
in this verse 13 that the temptations that are talked about here are
not the temptations that are talked about in the first 12
verses. Verse 13 starts to explain what
many might misunderstand about the concept of this sin. the
concept of these temptations. The temptations that he's about
to address, as I've said, aren't the same temptations that he
addressed in the first 12 verses. Those temptations that we've
talked about before are temptations and trials sent by a loving Father at the hand of the Lord, and
they're designed to bring us joy and peace in Christ. But James is making a distinction
here in the temptations that he's addressing in these verses.
He teaches about, in verse 13, those that he teaches about in
verse 13 are from another source altogether. The temptations found
there are those that proceed from the darkness of our own
hearts, not from God. It's talking about our lust,
our sin, our vile nature. The word that's used there, temptation,
temptations, and all that, is basically the same word, but
the source of those temptations and the end result are totally
opposite from what we've been talking about. If the source
of the temptation is from God, it's by grace and it's designed
to prove our faith. If the temptation comes from
within ourselves, then it has its origin in our sin and ourselves. James is setting things in their
proper order here so that no one, especially the believer,
and get this, no one, especially the believer, can blame any outside
source for the evil that's in our own heart. It's our sin, it's our lust. If we're tempted to sin, the
source of it, the source of the temptation is our own sin. our own lust. God doesn't and
he won't. God does not and he will not.
And he's never tempted man to sin and can't be charged with
your sin because for him to do evil, get this, in the sense
of holding before you something that would hurt and destroy you
is completely inconsistent with his holy nature. He just don't
do it. He's incapable of doing it. Let's
ask ourselves this question then. Why would James even address
this subject? It's because that we have a problem
with blaming our sin on something else or someone else outside
of ourselves. We can justify anything we do
or say using what's termed situation ethics. It just depends on the
situation is what excuse you come up with, how you justify
yourself. And sadly for the believer, the target of our blame is often
our God. And that's proven by the words
that we see here in our text. Let no man say when he's tempted,
I'm tempted of God. Well, if that hadn't been a problem,
why would he not address it? Why would he address it? Scripture
contains numerous examples. I won't give maybe one to name
one. Remember when Aaron, made an
idol of that golden calf when they were in the wilderness.
When he was confronted with his actions by Moses, he answered
this way. We laugh at his answer, but it's
just as much a part of our nature as it was his. They, Aaron is
speaking of the people, They said to me, Aaron, make us gods,
which shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man
that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don't even
know where he is or what's become of him. And he was on the mountain,
face to face with God. And Aaron said, and I told him,
Moses, whoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they
gave it to me and then I cast it into the fire and there came
out this cast. Magic. Don't blame me. Blame the flame. There's something
hereditary in this. Our father, Adam, told God, the
woman you gave me tempted me. That was the beginning of it
all. In fact, he laid the blame upon God for giving him his temptress. It's a thing contained in the
very root of our nature. It's bad to sin, but it's a whole
lot worse to charge God with it and to say it was because
of him. Those that lay the blame of their
sin, either upon their construction, their makeup, their form, their
situation, as if He were the author of sin, or on a fatalistic
necessity of sinning, reproach God in their answers and their
excuses and their situation justification, as if He were the author of it.
The afflictions that are sent by God are designed to draw out
our graces, as we've seen in the previous 12 verses, and not
our corruptions. In spite of what should be, our
general response is to find a way to blame Him. But it's far better response
for us to be like that old leper over in Leviticus. The leper
was told if he had the plague, his clothes
shall be rent. Now that means he's going to
be naked, naked. And his head bare, absolutely
nothing, wearing nothing. And he shall put a covering upon
his upper lip and shall cry unclean unclean, he was to be naked and
bare with the exception of his upper lip. The lip was covered
to signify that the leper was to make no excuses about what
he was. There he was exposed in all of
his sin. And it was a sign of shameful
conviction. He was virtually pointing his
finger at himself and saying, it's my fault. I'm unclean. I'm unclean. Those three verses, these three
verses in James reveal that this is not our normal response, but
it ought to be. Sin lies at the door. at our
door and nowhere else. Let me ask you a question. How or in what manner do we blame
God for our inward lust? One way we blame God is by blaming
His sovereignty, His providence, His purpose, the state of affairs
in the world, the times and the people around us. For the believer
to do this is to say that God's ordering the universe in a manner
that would cause me to sin. And that's not so. It's not so. The outward occasions and the
people our Lord puts in our path are for our good and will ultimately
prove to be so, but our rotten hearts react sinfully to it. God's not to be blamed. This world's full of beauty and
pleasure. I thought about this a lot. It's full of things of themselves
that are wonderful. But you know what turns them
to evil? Our lusts. Our lusts. To turn that which is good into
a sinful use. It's a beautiful, sunshiny day. John summed it up in his writing,
John's gospel. All that is in the world, the
lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of
life is not of the father. It's of the world. And our lust
is what makes the world to be the world that is not of God.
It's a gift of God, created by God, but we can turn it to a
bad thing that's not of God. That's what that verse says. One of the ways most often used
in blaming God by His people is His sovereign predestination.
Blaming God What men usually attribute to
sovereignty is, for the most part, turned into fatalism. Man
hears that God is in control of all things and then concludes
that since God's in control, he shouldn't find fault with
a man as he exists. Have you ever heard... Have you
ever heard someone quote that old song, whatever will be, will
be? That's not true. It's just not
true. Whatever will be is in the purpose
of God. And the purpose of God is to
save a people. And everything works toward that
end. But they say, after all, no one
can resist Him. Romans chapter 9. These fatalists
say that someday we'll understand how things are when the smoke
clears. There ain't no smoke. It's clear
as a bell right now. God's purpose is being served. Sovereignty is the character
of God. the God who is good and always does what's right. Our
lust can, and it does oftentimes,
tempt us to blame God for our crookedness, to fix blame upon
Him for what we lustfully got ourselves into by His sovereign
control. It's not so. God can't be tempted
with evil, verse 13, He's immutable. He's good. He's holy. He's without iniquity. And he has no delight in sin. He hates it. He cannot commit
sin. It's contrary to his nature.
And no one, no one can tempt another one to sin unless he's
sinful himself. Man's evil. and he'll take the
very gift of God and through his lust, use it for his own
satisfaction and then blame God for it. What we ought to do is cover our upper lip and cry unclean
and make no excuses. Let's move on to another question. It's one that comes up often
when the subject of sin is addressed, especially as it relates to God
using sinful men and their sinful acts to bring things to His appointed
end. Is God the author of sin? That's the question. And you
know what answers that question better than any other thing in
the Scriptures? My opinion? It's clearly stated in the Word
of God that sinful men and their devices were employed to hang
our Savior. Acts, Him being delivered by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken. God didn't do it. You have taken
and by wicked hands have crucified and slain him. Here's another. The wrath of
a truth against thy holy child, also from Acts here. Jesus, whom
thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the
Gentiles, and the people of Israel. You
know what that includes, everybody on the face of this earth? Herod Pontius Pilate with the
Gentiles, that's everybody besides the Jews, and the people of Israel
were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy
counsel determined before to be done. Do those two things
contradict one another? No. Here's another. Now is my soul trouble, and what
shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.
For this hour came I into this world, Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from
heaven, saying, I've both glorified it, and I'm gonna glorify it
again. The people, therefore, that stood by and heard it said
that it thundered, and others said that an angel spake. Jesus
answered and said, this voice came not because of me, not because
of me, but for your sakes. Now the judgment of this world,
now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this
world be cast out. The cross, what does that say? It says that the cross was the
purpose of God. It would take place. No way to escape it. It was going
to happen. It was purpose predestinated
before this world or universe was ever formed. And there's
no possibility that it would not happen. Yet, God didn't nail
his son to a cross. Wicked men acting on their own
vicious lusts, did the evil deed that eventuated in the salvation
of God's elect. God didn't make these men act
that way. He merely suffered them to be
themselves. He didn't restrain them. He didn't
restrain their evil nature, though He clearly could have done so.
He could have called 10,000 angels. if he'd been inclined to. John
informed us in his gospel of that. He said, Jesus, knowing
all things that should come upon him, went forth and said to them,
whom seek ye? And they answered him, Jesus
of Nazareth. And Jesus said to them, I'm he. They didn't grab him and tie
him up then. His answer caused every one of
them to fall backwards. And Judas also, which betrayed
him, stood with him. As soon then as he had said to
them, I am he, they asked again, whom seek ye? Or he asked them
again, whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
I've told you that I am he. If therefore you seek me, let
these go free. that the saying might be fulfilled.
Here's the reason. So that the saying might be fulfilled,
which he spake of them, which thou gavest me, I've lost to
none, none. God, our father, withheld all
restraint and they merely followed the dictates of their own lusts. How evil are we? That's that all to tell you.
Unrestrained hate will always act toward the murder of the
one that's hated. And the hate is murder. And the only thing that keeps
us from acting on our hate is God's sovereign restraint. These little temper fits that
we have ought to prove that to us every time we open our mouth
in anger. When God's restraints lifted, we'll act upon the nature
that drives our very being. For God to control sinful humanity
and carry out his sovereign purpose, he can either restrain from the desired actions that
his lust seeks or he can suffer it to be so. And it must, and they must be left without
restraint. That crowd at the crucifixion,
we were there in our humanity. We sought to kill the son of
God We wanted His blood upon our heads. We mocked Him and
scourged Him. And if we think we might have
acted otherwise, we don't know what we are. And we have no appreciation for
the restraint that keeps us from being what we would be. The cross
is not just the best example of God's employment of sinful
men, it's the example. And if it's understood, we'll
clearly grasp that God's not the author of sin. We'll also
understand and perceive what sin is and can attest that God,
while suffering it to be so, is not the author of it. Have you ever had ever heard
or had the question asked, why did God allow sin to exist or
even enter the picture? I wish I could appreciate this. Like I desire to. There's a basic weakness in that
question. Not necessarily in the asking,
but in the presumption. that sin is somehow outside the
realm of God's purpose. Don't misunderstand me here. Sin is a part of the plan because
the cross was and is the plan. If that's so, how then can we
be part of the plan and God not be the author of it? I mean,
is that not fair to ask? But the answer is right in front
of us. Neither, verse 13, tempteth he any man with evil. We're just being what we are.
But he often suffers that evil to be acted upon, but the end
of it is gonna be for the good of his people. They intended
for evil, God intended it for good. Remember Joseph when he
was thrown in that pit? Awake, O sword, against my shepherd. This is the Lord speaking now.
Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, Christ, and against the man that
is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts, smite the shepherd,
smite Christ, and the sheep shall be scattered, and I will turn
my hand upon the little ones." That's the purpose of God, to
save a people. There, in that quote, The cross
is clearly in view and God speaks of the revenge of the multitude
who crucified Christ by Him removing His restraint and allowing them
the hatred to be vented. All of it was for the good of His people. There are several examples of
such in the scripture. And if we weigh them in light
of the cross, you'll understand that God is not the author of
sin, but sin is a part of His purpose. We all know God's omnipotent,
so sin must fall within His sovereign control. Sin's existence is according
to His will. If it were not for sin, Get this, do you realize that
one of our Father's greatest attributes could have never been
manifest or made known? How so? There was never anyone
to show love to. His love could have never been
known had it not been for sin. Providence employs man's sin
with God enforcing man to do it. And it's a wonder of His
majestic deity. As the psalmist wrote, I have
a better understanding of this verse after studying James to
this point than I ever have before. When David wrote in the psalm,
he said, surely the wrath of man shall praise God. The remainder of wrath shall
he restrain. How so? Sin exists and is employed
by God's foreknowledge and predestination, and sin is because God intended
it to be to manifest His love. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, we've taken and by wicked
hands have crucified him. God foreknew and deliberately
delivered Christ to wicked men to carry out his purpose in the
salvation of a people. There was no sin in his act.
None. When Isaac laid down on that
altar, you reckon that his father had to beat him before he put
him up there and make him stay there? Uh-uh. Isaac crawled up
on that altar under his own strength, and so did Christ. The outcome was never in question. God's purpose couldn't be frustrated,
and he didn't force these men to act according to their cardinal
nature. He just simply took his hand
off of them. Simply stated, sin serves God just as everything
else does. His attributes are exalted by
the presence of sin in this world. Could we even talk about grace
if sin were not existing? Could you talk about redemption
without sin being in the world? Could you not talk about God's
justice if it were not for sin in the world? Could you even
talk about righteousness our salvation without the presence
of sin. Those words have no meaning. There would be no basis for it.
And we must never blame God for suffering sin to exist because
every believer is better for having had sin put away by Christ
being made sin for us. Leave you with this thought.
What was our Lord's cry from the cross? One of them. I think
you'll remember for sure. Under the suffering of the sins
of an entire people, a whole kingdom. He cried out that day,
Father, forgive them because they don't know what they're
doing. I think that happened literally 40 days later. I think
everyone standing at the foot of that cross was saved at Pentecost
because he asked for all of them to be saved. I hope that means something to
you.