tonight, in continuation of what we started last week. So I'd like to have you turn in your Bibles to the letter of James. The letter of James, you'll find that between Hebrews and 1 Peter. Toward the end of your Bible, it's on page 1288 in the Pew Bible. And I will read from the beginning of this letter through our text, which begins in verse 13, so that you can listen for an important connection. An important connection. And to hear it, we need to know that James uses one word that is translated in your text two ways. In verses 2 through 12, he refers to the trials into which God leads us. And in verses 13 and later, he talks about the temptation that we know. Same word. And we need to be aware of that because the circumstances and the people with whom God brings us into contact for His purposes, which are good. As we saw last time, to refine our faith and to mold our character more and more into the image of Christ, that it's in those very same circumstances that we will find ourselves tempted to sin. It'll be in those very same circumstances where we will bristle and complain and wonder if it's all too much. And that will be how we focus this evening and from our text, so listen carefully to the Word of God, beginning in James 1, verse 1. The Word of God. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the dispersion, greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask with faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass, he will pass away. The sun rises with the scorching heat and withers the grass. Its flower falls and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuit. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial. For when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. And now our text. Let no one say, when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth or brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creation. Here ends the reading of God's word. As we heard again tonight, being reminded from verses 2 to 12, that James has urged us to consider every trial as an occasion or cause for joy. not because it will necessarily be comfortable but because we can trust that God is working through it for his purposes to expose and refine the faith that he's given us to mold it into a character that conforms to Christ to prepare us for glory when we will receive the crown of life when his work in us is done and we were reminded that in the meantime even though it's uncomfortable we can be confident that God will give generously to us as people without reproach, no matter how many times we have to come back because we fall, because we sin, because we fail to obey. He continues to give grace. He continues to provide the wisdom that we need. He continues to work toward His purposes. Our text this evening in verse 13 opens with a rather strong warning that says, let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God. Well, James has made it very clear that God brings us into trials to try us to refine our faith and to mold our character. The question arises, does that mean that it is God who brings us into temptation? To tempt us to sin? It seems a fair question. I think James thought so, and he answered it before it could be raised. It was so obvious. Well, what do you think? If we're honest, we must admit to asking this question. It comes naturally to us as children of Adam. It's the way we look at the world by nature. As we've heard from Genesis not too long ago, the story of God coming to Adam and Eve in the garden after they'd eaten from the tree for the knowledge of good and evil. And God asked Adam, have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? And Adam said, the woman that you gave to me, She gave me the fruit, and I ate. And then the Lord questioned the woman, and she said, Well, the serpent deceived me, and I ate. Do you hear the accusation that came to the lips of Adam and Eve? When Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent, they were both blaming God for tempting them. He had control over all their circumstances. He had arranged these relationships to take place. Surely he was to blame if these were the things that caused them to sin. You know the logic. We may not say it out loud, but we are aware, usually after the fact, that we blame circumstances for our sin. But we need to know that when we blame our circumstances for our sin, we're blaming God, who controls all the circumstances. I had no choice. Traffic was moving so fast, I had the speed to keep up. One of us was going to lose our job. I had to lie. I couldn't take it anymore. I had to leave. And when we blame other people for our sin, we are blaming God who created them and brought them into a relationship with us. Surely you've never heard these words off your lips. It's your fault. He made me angry. She made me jealous. My friends made me do it. Well, maybe you're more aware than I think. Maybe you're even aware when you are tempted to blame God straight out for someone or something to charge Him with evil for making you endure someone or something that is just too much, something that you shouldn't have to face. Maybe you've said it out loud. What are you doing, God? where are you? I shouldn't have to go through this. When will it end? We all know what it is to be tempted. We all know what it feels like to be tempted, but James wants us to know more than we feel. He wants us to know the truth about temptation. He wants us to not be deceived about what's going on when we are tempted to sin. And from our text this evening, we'll consider three things about temptation. First of all, whence it comes. Where does temptation come from? Secondly, where temptation leads. Where is it taking us? And lastly, what temptation would have us forget. The first thing we need to know is the truth about whence temptation comes. Where does it come from? We all know that we have it. We all know that we experience it. Where does it come from? James says, let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God. Right out of the gate, he wants to make sure that we understand it cannot be God. It cannot be true. And he gives us two reasons. Number one is that because God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. Two categorical statements of fact from the Word of God. God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. Let's look at those one at a time. God cannot be tempted by evil because God is holy. He's holy. He's completely righteous in Himself and in all of His ways. There's nothing in Him, there's no place in Him for anything but righteousness and justice and truth. Isaiah heard the heavenly praise, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. And Job was reminded that the Almighty, justice, and abundant righteousness he will not violate. Often in the Bible, God's righteousness, his holiness, is depicted as light, brighter than anything in this room, brighter than anything we've ever seen, brighter than the sun. And depicting holiness as light, Paul calls God the blessed and only sovereign who dwells in unapproachable light whom no one has ever seen or can see. He's beyond our reach in himself. He's so holy. In his Gospel, John announced that this unapproachable God has approached us in His Son. The Word of God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, the righteous. John says, in Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. And in his first epistle, John relayed this message that Jesus Himself had proclaimed, that God is light. And in him there is no darkness at all. And Jesus in the flesh, the God-man, demonstrated that God cannot be tempted with evil. According to Matthew 4, after Jesus was baptized, he was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And the tempter came. You must note, in this trial of Jesus Christ, it was the Spirit who led him into it. He led him to the desert to be met by the tempter. Just as the Spirit led Jesus through every circumstance of his life, every relationship of his life, each one appointed by God for his purposes, including his relationship with Judas, with Herod, with Pilate, and even the circumstance of going to the cross to die. Trial. Satan brought his A-game he put a full court press on Jesus Christ in the wilderness and also throughout his life and his purpose was to expose in Jesus Christ any self-serving desire that he could stir up that would tempt Jesus to sin that was Satan's purpose to tempt entice what was God's purpose? was it to tempt Jesus to sin? Was it so that Jesus would become disqualified and cast out like the first Adam? Well, we know not. God's purpose was to reveal Jesus' perfect and incorruptible righteousness in Himself, His inability to be tempted by evil. He's the God-man. And James established this fact in our text that God is not able to be tempted by evil in order to offer us this great assurance that because he cannot be tempted to evil, he himself tempts no one. It is impossible for God to tempt you. It's contrary to his nature. He cannot and he will not tempt anyone to sin, no exception. And so we confess tonight from Belgic Confession Article 13 that God neither is the author of nor can be charged with the sins which are committed in this world. God cannot be tempted to evil, and He will not tempt anyone. Yes, God governs all things, even the circumstances that to us feel overwhelming, and the people who push our buttons, and Satan himself who will accuse us and entice us, and the world that will woo us to its ways. He's sovereign over all of that. But as we've already been assured from our text last week, He uses each and every one of those circumstances to refine the faith of His people and to mold the character of His people. Every instance is an opportunity for God to work in us for His glory and for our sanctification and for the good of other people. But in the midst of that is when we will feel temptation. And therefore, whenever the occasion may be that we are tempted to sin, we can know the temptation is not coming from God, either directly or indirectly through any of those circumstances, any of those people. It's always untrue to say that God made me do it. It's also untrue to say the devil made me do it. You made me do it. This or that circumstance made me do it. Those are all false. They cannot be true. And so James sets us straight in verse 14 that whatever the occasion in which we find ourselves tempted, the truth is that each person is tempted by his own desire. Whenever I sin, I made myself do it. How is that? Because by nature I'm a child of Adam. I was conceived and born guilty of his sin. I'm a sinner first, therefore I sin. I'm sinful by nature, therefore I sin. and the Apostle John says that we need to own this we need to know this we need to admit it because if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves that's what we bring to the party that's what we bring to the circumstance that's what we bring to the relationship and James illustrates the truth of this with a fish story a true fish story unlike most he says each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire He's drawing us a picture Now there is no bait There is no eye-popping lure That is powerful in itself No matter what the bait shop tells you No matter what they sell you There is no lure, there is no bait That will make a fish bite And if you don't believe that Ask John Buechelman About fishing with chocolate marshmallow If you don't know the story It's worth hearing The reason is the bait or the lure has to be or has to appear to be something the fish already desires. And so as that bait is presented or that lure passes by, its desires lure and entice it into action to chase and to go. And in the same way, there are no circumstances in this life. There are no persons in this life. There is nothing in the world, not even Satan himself, who can make you sin. That can only be an expression of you going after something that you want. Dietrich Bonhoeffer described temptation this way. With irresistible power, desire seizes mastery over the flesh. It makes no difference whether it's a sexual desire or ambition or vanity or desire for revenge or love of fame and power or greed for money. Joy in God is extinguished in us and we seek all of our joy in the creature, in the thing, in the person, in the feeling, in the experience. Even God-given desires designed by God to find their fulfillment in Him and Him alone, we can distort by our sinfulness and try to get from other people, from other circumstances. We can look for love in all the wrong places. We can look for security in all the wrong places. We can look for what the world calls wealth because we want it and we will seek for it. You see, this is why Jesus had to come in the flesh, the Son of God, and overcome temptation in our place. In Him, Hebrews tells us that we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. He's been put into every circumstance we can imagine and more than we can. And never within him was stirred up a selfish desire that would entice him to sin. He said of himself in John chapter 5, I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And he did that perfectly. And therefore the wooing of the world had no hold on him. The strategies of Satan had no effect on him. the sins of people against him. He never responded with sin. The circumstances of his life were often horrific. And he never complained. Temptation doesn't come from God. We bring it to the party. The second thing we need to know is the truth about where temptation leads. It comes from within, and in a word, it leads to death. That's the short trip, and oftentimes it is. But James illustrates this truth with another familiar picture, a picture of how one thing leads to another. In verse 15, James portrays a desire that has lured and enticed us as a desire that has become pregnant. It has conceived. It says, then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin. Once desire, once our sinful, selfish, self-serving desire is conceived, is formulated, is crystallized, unless it's put to death, it will grow in the heart until it gives birth to words and actions designed to get what it wants. Because we're sinful, we want what we want. We want it when we want it, and we want it how we want it, and we are willing to sin to get it, and we're willing to sin if we don't. Desire that is conceived to give birth to sin. Again, Bonhoeffer. At this moment, he's talking about this moment of birth, if you will. God is quite unreal to us. He loses all reality and only desire for the creature is real. I have to admit, I know what that is. I know that moment. I know what it is to pull the trigger on the desire, to give birth to the sin. We all do. We've all been there. And we will be there again. And Jesus explained it this way, that out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. Out of the heart, out of the desires, desires conceive and they give birth to the sin. I often go back to Reverend Gordon's preaching on Cain and Abel and how sin was crouching at his door. Sin was conceiving in him. His desire was for his brother and it was conceived in him and it was born against his brother. Now, from conception to delivery, it may only take a moment. Faster than we can realize what we're doing. Reflexes are so well-honed, so well-practiced. Our sinful instincts are so fast. we miss the pregnancy and go straight to delivery. But the pregnancy can go on for years, for years and years before the bitter root springs up to cause trouble. There is no fixed gestation period between the conception and the birth, but it will come unless that desire is put to death. That's not James' point here, but we hear that often in the Scriptures. We're to put to death the old man. And by God's grace, we can interrupt this pregnancy. But when we don't, it will bring forth sin. And once that sin is delivered, it brings consequences. Relationships are broken. Our relationship with God is strained. It's impeded by our sin. It's not broken unto damnation because we are His children. but our prayers are hindered. Our life is frustrated and our relationships with others are broken. And we experience a brokenness of body or spirit. We can't carry around this child without having consequences. And eventually and forever, this sin, when it's fully grown, will bring forth death, which is what sin deserves, Paul says. It's the wages of sin. It's death. Temptation conceives and gives birth to sin. And in the end, unless this is interrupted by the grace of God, it will bring us to death. If there were nothing more to the truth about temptation than the fact that it comes not from God but from ourselves and that it leads to sin and death, we would be without hope. This would be a terrible place to leave us. It's not good news. It's good about God, but it's not good news for us because we're still stuck in the circumstance tempted to sin. But James doesn't leave us there. He has something more to say, something about which we must not be deceived, he says in verse 16. Do not be deceived, my beloved brother. Reminding us, he's talking to Christians. He's talking to the children of God. He's talking to those who've been saved by grace through faith, those who've been given new life in Christ. Don't be deceived. And the third and perhaps the most important thing we need to know is the truth about what temptation forgets or would have us forget. Bonhoeffer said that. He says, when we're in temptation, we're filled with forgetfulness of God. We think we stand alone. That works in a couple ways. It's that God's not present to see what we're doing. We excuse our sin in the moment. We always do. But temptation also has us believe that God is not present to help. And that's a deception. That's contrary to all that he told us in verses 2 to 12. It's contrary to the reality of who we are in Christ Jesus. And we must not be deceived. Because temptation forgets the goodness of God. Forgets the goodness of God in general and especially his saving goodness toward us. And James touches on both of those. In verse 17 he reminds us of the goodness of God in general. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. It sounds redundant because it is. It's a poetic way to emphasize that anything and everything in this world that's good comes from one place. It comes from above. And when James says that every good in this world comes down from the Father of Lights, He wants us to call to mind the creation of this world and the providence of God. In particular, the fourth day of creation when God created the greater lights, the sun and the moon, and the lesser lights, the stars. And He saw that they were good, as was all of His creation. James wants us to be mindful of that, of the creation. God's goodness in making it. God's goodness, as we confess tonight from the Belgic in sustaining and governing it. Now we know that since the creation when wickedness overran the world, God had to judge this world and he had to put it away with the flood. And by grace he saved Noah and his family and at the end of that salvation he announced to Noah his covenant. A covenant with every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth. A covenant to preserve the earth until Christ comes to judge it with fire. A covenant that benefits all men. That Jesus affirmed when He says that our Father in Heaven makes His Son to rise on the evil and on the good. And He sends His reign on the just and on the unjust alike. The goodness of God is everywhere evident. Paul says it in Romans that it's so evident there's no excuse for not acknowledging God and praising Him for His goodness. That's Paul or James' point in verse 17. That's the goodness of God. And His gifts are good because God is good. And James wants to give us a sense of that goodness with a comparison of the giver with His gifts. He calls to mind the luminaries, the sun and the moon and the stars. Because when the sun rises and falls and the moon waxes and wanes and the constellations turn, they produce a kaleidoscope of light and shadow. Every day different. Never the same. Even here in San Diego. Never the same. But the Father of lights, the Creator of lights, James says, never changes. With Him there is no variation or shadow due to change. There's nothing about Him that fluctuates. He is, here's your $10 word for tonight, He is immutable. He's unchangeable. He said of Himself in Malachi, I, the Lord, do not change. And He revealed Himself in Jesus Christ, who was the same yesterday, and today and forever. And because God is immutable, unchangeable. His goodness is unchangeable. He's no less good today, and he can be no more good tomorrow than he is all the time. As we heard this morning, his goodness came to Abraham over and over and over. Because God is good, and especially toward His people. And we have good reason to sing. We didn't sing it tonight, but you all know the refrain, Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father. There is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not. As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be. Well, temptation not only would have us forget the goodness of God in general, to all men, to the whole of His creation. It would have us forget the saving goodness of God It would have us forget in the midst of temptation that we are not our own, but we belong, body and soul, in life and in death to our faithful Savior. Temptation would have us forget and act as though we don't belong and pursue an end toward which God would never have us go. And we're not to be deceived. So James reminds us of God's saving goodness in verse 18, And this is beautiful. One of the most beautiful expressions of the gospel. And it's very clear in James. He says, of His, speaking of God, the Father of lights, of His own will, He brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creation. Of His own will, He brought us forth by the word of truth. Temptation tells us that we're the only actors in the neighborhood. We're the only ones with something to desire and something to do. But the truth is, God is the ultimate actor in this creation, and he continues to act not only for the good of all, but for the salvation of his people, and the support of his people, and the sanctification of his people. Therefore, we must remember what temptation forgets, that God acts of his own will according to his desire, not ours. And from that desire he acts and he has acted to bring us forth, to give us birth. He uses the word of truth that he's given to us by the power of his spirit. He uses that word of truth, what Paul refers, calls the word of truth, the gospel. He gives us the gospel. He uses the gospel to give us life instead of death. To give us the righteousness of Christ instead of our sinfulness. To give us a life that will last forever rather than death. A life that is represented by us being the first fruits of His creation. The Lord's coming back one day and He's going to reap a great harvest. This whole cosmos as we know it will be redeemed. And of that redemption, His people are the first fruits. They are the cream of the crop. You're the first down payment of all that's going to come. And we need to remember that's who we are today. In the midst of the trial, when we feel temptation, by nature, our desires give birth to sin, and that leads to death. By grace, James reminds us, by grace, God's desire gives birth to righteousness that leads to life. Do not be deceived. My beloved brothers, remember the gospel, the truth of what God has done in Jesus Christ and will continue to do for everyone who trusts Him. You see, in these difficulties in life, in the trials of life into which He brings us, God has not left us to ourselves. In each and every one, in each and every one, we have reason to rejoice because we can be confident that He's at work through every circumstance, through every relationship, to refine the faith He has given us, to mold us more and more to the image of Christ, and we can be confident that He will never tempt us to sin because He has determined to act. Even when we do sin and when we fall, we can repent and return and be restored because He has already given us eternal life in Christ, Life that can more and more resist temptation and which can more and more pursue righteousness to the glory of our God, our Savior, and to the well-being of our neighbor. Trials and temptation. Same moments. Same people. Same circumstances. Look to God to find your strength to pull you through. Remember, he's at work for your good. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we come thankful for this word from James, a very practical word to us, Father, that hits us right where we live. Oh, I think of Luther reminding us that we are sinners and saints. We are sinners and saints. We thank you, Father, that by your grace we are saints. We are set apart as holy to you, that you have given us life that will never end, then you give us your spirit to use your word and the gospel in particular, Lord, to move us forward in this life. Not only endure the trials into which you bring us, but to do so more and more, putting off sin, resisting temptation, and more and more willing and able to respond in faith in you and according to your word as you've revealed it to us, that we might love one another, love even our enemies, as you have loved us in Christ, our Lord, in whose name we pray. Amen.