1. When we started this series in the epistle of James last week, I tried to point out that the Bible uses the word "temptation" in two different ways. I think Scofield’s notes here (p. 1307, bottom) are good.
2. Last time we saw that God often tests us (1:2,12). This testing under trial is for our good and builds Christian character.
3. But God never tempts us to do evil (1:13). Today, we will look at this second type of temptation. You may not remember much of what is said today, but please remember this – God never tempts man to sin.

I. GOD IS NOT THE AUTHOR OF SIN (1:13,17).

1. Just as God’s trials are designed to bring out the best in us – unholy temptations are designed to bring out the worst in us (1:13,14).
2. God designs trials to strengthen us; the devil designs temptations to destroy us.
3. God does test or try men, as far as their faith is concerned (1:2-4), but God never tempts men to do evil.
4. God by His very nature, "cannot be tempted with evil," therefore, He cannot be the cause of men doing evil. "Neither tempteth He any man" (1:13).
5. James emphasizes that God cannot entice men to sin because God only does good, not bad – "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above…" (1:17).
6. With God, there is "no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (1:17). Men change, the seasons change, the sun, moon and stars change – but God never changes.
7. God is always good and He never tempts men to sin.

II. SIN COMES FROM WITHIN A MAN (1:14).

1. Man is always ready to shift responsibility for his sins. We see this way back in the Garden of Eden – Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent.
2. We see it when Moses questioned Aaron about the golden calf and dancing and all of the other wickedness that broke out. Aaron blamed it on all the others.
3. King Saul tried that same approach when confronted by Samuel.
4. This is human nature. Man is ways ready to shift the blame to someone else. This blame-shifting is the basis of modern psychiatry – it’s not your fault, blame it on your parents, you have a "sickness," etc.
5. James gets down to business – we have no one to blame but ourselves. The problem is within us; we have a rotten old, sinful nature that is corrupt and it will no go away.
6. The word "entice" means literally to "lure by a bait" or "to catch fish with bait." The devil has his hook in the water and he uses different bait for each person – drugs, alcohol, sex, gambling, money, etc.
7. One preacher put it this way: "Those who would not fall into the river, should beware how they approach too near to its banks. He that crushes the egg, need not fear the flight of the bird. He who would not drink of the wine of wrath, let him not touch the cup of pleasure. He who would not hear the passing-bell of eternal death, should not finger the rope of sin."
8. Because James makes no mention in this passage of the devil as "the tempter" (he is called "the tempter" in Matt.4:3 and I Thess.3:5), it should not be supposed that he is minimizing the devil’s influence (cf. 4:7).
9. I believe the reason James makes no mention of the devil in this passage is to deprive sinners of any excuse for their sin. When I was a child, there was a silly comedian who was always saying: "The devil made me do it!"
10. Here James does not give allowance for this common excuse – a man sins when he is "drawn away of his own lust, and enticed" (1:14).
11. The devil is not omnipresent – there is enough wickedness in your heart and mine that he could be a thousand miles away and we would still be capable of committing the foulest sin.
12. Our Lord made this clear when He said that evil comes from "out of the hearts of men" (Mark 7:15,18-23).

III. SIN BRINGS FORTH DEATH (1:15,16).

1. People often wonder: is temptation sin? No, it is only sin when man yields to the temptation. Our Lord was tempted by the devil in the wilderness but He certainly did not sin.
2. Martin Luther said: "You cannot keep the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair."
3. The right course of action is to expel all evil thoughts before things get out of hand. Our Lord said, "That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matt.5:28). David was guilty before he even met Bath-sheba. By the time he sent for her he was already in trouble.
4. The idea is to expel lustful thoughts quickly, but all too often, people encourage these lustful thoughts, and dwell on them, and nourish them, and enjoy them.
5. Then it is too late – "lust hath conceived" (1:15). "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin" (1:15) – and what an ugly brat!
6. "And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death" (1:15). The Bible gives us many examples of this principle. I mentioned King David. Remember, his baby died, and then Amnon and Absalom, his two sons died, and then Amasa, his nephew died.
7. We need to realize that Christians are not exempt from this principle:

• Ananias and Sapphira were killed by the Lord (Acts 5)
• God was ready to kill the immoral Christian in Corinth but he repented (I Cor.5:5)
• God kills Christians who partake of the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner (I Cor.11:29,30)
• John warns that there is a "sin unto death" (I John 5:16)

8. Sin not only produces physical death, but more importantly, it results in spiritual death ("For the wages of sin is death" – Rom.6:23).
9. This means eternal separation from God in the lake of fire, what John calls the "second death" (Rev.20:14).
10. When the evil thoughts in man’s heart join up with outward temptations, lust will conceive and bring forth sin (1:15). That is why we have to be very careful in how we dress, especially during summer, when people are looking more and more like wild savages right out of the jungle (cf. I Tim.2:9).
11. It used to be that restaraunts would post signs saying: "Men – no shorts" or "Must wear shoes." Now, the signs say: "Must have clothes on." The only people we read about in the Bible that are half-naked are demon possessed!
12. Also, let’s be extra careful in avoiding worldly TV shows and Hollywood movies that promote immorality.
13. The progress of sin is easy to understand – lust, sin, death. Death follows sin as naturally as night follows day – it is inevitable.
14. Notice the contrast – the man "that endureth temptation" receives "the crown of life" (1:12). But the man that yields to sin receives a different payment – death. The choice is before us.
15. James adds these solemn words: "Do not err, my beloved brethren" (1:16). In other words, do not be deceived, do not be led astray. Sin deceives people, sin blinds people, and sin destroys people.
16. "He that falls into sin is a man. He that grieves at sin is a saint. He that boasts of sin is a devil."

CONCLUSION:

1. Along the banks of the Amazon River there lives a species of large, colorful spiders. When one of them spreads itself out, it looks exactly like the blossom of a beautiful flower.
2. Bees and other insects lighting upon it expect to find honey, but instead the spider secretes a deadly poison.
3. The poison drugs some of the insects and kills the rest. That is the way sin is. Expecting to find sweet honey, sinners discover that they are being poisoned.
4. Unfortunately, most people discover too late.