James Part 3 - Who Should I Blame? James 1v12-18

This sermon is from Sunday 22nd March 2026, where Andrew Grey continues preaching from the book of James.

Transcript

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We're continuing in the book of James. If you have your own Bible with you, please turn up James chapter 1. The passages are also in the order of service. You'll see it at the top of page 7. Let me pray. And then I'll read and preach from the Word of God. Let's pray. Father in heaven, you do wonderful things through your word by your Holy Spirit. You give new life through it. You work wholeness and health. And we pray that that would be our experience. Each one of us, young and old, alike. Whether we're new to the faith, we've been in Christ a long while. We pray that collectively as well as individually, that through your word you would make us whole. So we pray you would unite our hearts to fear your name. And we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen. Amen. So James chapter 1, verses 12 to 18. Let's listen to the words of the living God. 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. 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 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 first fruits of his creatures. Thanks be to God for his word to us today. I am probably the clumsiest person in my family. If something is broken or spilt, it is usually me. Most recently, a bowl of baked beans. Think of the last mess that you made. So, children, you have a think? Big people, you have a think. What was the last mess that you made? And what was the first thing you said afterwards? I hope you said something like, I'm so sorry, as you look at the mess on the floor. How can I clear this up? But maybe you said something else. Maybe you said, I only broke that because you never put it away. I only spilt that because I am so tired at the moment. In other words, it's not my fault. Now I want you to think about a different kind of spillage, a different kind of mess all over the floor. Imagine a big pile of anger all over the floor. Or you have spilled lust everywhere. Or there is laziness oozing across the carpet. We are really quick to say it's not my fault. I couldn't help it. We might even say something like, I'm sorry, but you. Now it runs deep, that instinct. It started in the Garden of Eden. She gave me the fruit of the tree. It's her fault. We are blame shifters. Now, here is why that matters. Remember what we've been learning from God in the first verses of James chapter 1. God loads us with weights. So imagine the image of being on a weights bench with a bar, and he puts trials on us. See that word trials in verse 12, and he wants us to be steadfast, literally to remain under. He wants us to push upwards and grow spiritual muscles, and most of all, to love him. To love him with a whole heart. A love that leads to obedience in spite of the pressure that we are under. And the result of it is that we become whole. We become perfect. Whole is probably a more helpful way to think about that word in James chapter 1. A whole Christian with an undivided love. And at the end of it all, verse 12 says, there is a crown of life awaiting. But here is the thing: there you are under trial, under pressure, and a voice comes into your mind. It's too hard. It's too heavy. I can't keep going. I have to give in. And we start to feel that internal tug of war. I love Christ. I don't love Christ enough. I want to obey Jesus. Actually, in this moment, I do not want to obey Jesus. That pull to sin, that pull to do something which is wrong, it's what the Bible calls temptation. And the question is, who is pulling you? Who is pulling me? If I give in and there is anger or lust or laziness spilt all over the floor, where has that come from? And in our passage, James gives us a warning. He says, verse 16, don't be deceived. This is James, the brother of Jesus. He has huge love and concern for the Christians and churches to whom he's writing, such that he needs to warn them about a lie which is dead easy to swallow. And here it is. Don't blame God. The lie is it is God's fault. It's God's fault. Now, would a Christian ever say that? When you look at verse 13, is that real? I am being tempted by God. Well, just run through some of these little scenarios with me. The people around me are so unreasonable. And that is God's doing. Well, that's true, isn't it? Yes, the Lord sends trials into our lives, including unreasonable people. And it is just a fact that I've got a bad temper. It's how I made. God built me like that. God gave me this temper. And you can start to see where things are going wrong, can't you? And the result? I have to lash out at people. And there is anger spilled all over the floor. Or what about this one? It is not my fault that she is so attractive. God put her there. And it's not my fault that I then, and then there is lust spilled all over the carpet. Or what about I am just physically exhausted. God has given me this life. So yes, I'm going to ditch my Bible reading and I'm just going to stay in bed when there is laziness. Or what I feel, what I desire, it is so natural to me. It's not really even giving in, it's just me being me. This is how God has wired me. To which James says, don't blame God. Because God never tempts us. He will send trials to test us. He will not ever tempt us. That internal voice tugging us in a different direction. That is never God. He is wholly good. We are split people. We are temptable. God is not. He is one, he is undivided. He is only good. Totally good. So he will never tempt you. Now think about that internal tug that we feel. It can sometimes almost be physically painful. It's worth being honest about that. I love the Lord, but the desire to lash out in anger is so strong. I love the Lord, but sexual desire is so strong. I love the Lords, but I just cannot be bothered right now. It's a painful tug, isn't it? But it is not the Lord who is pulling us apart. It's really important to say that the Lord knows the circumstances of our lives. They matter to him, they are not nothing. So if you or I, if we're in a situation that is unfair, he knows and he cares. If you long for a happier marriage or to be married, if you long for sleep, something as simple as sleep, the Lord knows those situations. And he is with you, with me in them. But he is not tempting you. He does not draw us to do the wrong thing. He has not given us wrong desires. His plan is our wholeness. So here's the question, though. Who then is pulling me? Who then is pulling me? And the answer is I am. I am tugging myself in two directions. And here's why. Because we all have desires which can destroy us. Have a look at verse 14. Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Children, just look up for a moment. Do you want to ask? Do you know what a civil war is? You know what a civil war is? So some people are nodding. A civil war, a few blank faces. So a war, two nations fighting each other. A civil war, it's actually one nation which is fighting itself. Or maybe even one town which is split in two and is fighting against itself, or even a family. And of all the wars that human beings get into, this is the worst and the nastiest. A civil war. Now, visit a war zone with me. Visit the town of my soul. It is actually engaged in an endless civil war. So you and I, we are designed to love God and obey Him. And if we're Christian people, then by the power of the Holy Spirit we do desire God. And we do desire to obey Him. But we also have other desires which war against us. And this civil war, sometimes it's just quietly beneath the surface. Sometimes we really feel it. We find ourselves saying things like, and this is the Apostle Paul in Romans 7, I do the very thing that I hate. Just think about that. I do the very thing that I hate. Now, what is pulling us towards sin? And James says it's like fishing. It's like fishing. You go fishing, you want to lure or entice the fish onto your hook. So, how do you get a fish to impale its own head on a sharp hook? Because that's what you're doing when you're fishing, isn't it? How do you persuade a fish to come and hook itself so that you can pull it out, whack it over the head, and then eat it? Well, you need to entice it, don't you? Maybe a delicious worm or a juicy maggot. Now those things are delicious, the fish, aren't they? Now, what lures and entices you and me onto the hook of sin? So when I experience this tug and I could go in one of two directions, what makes me disobey the Lord? And the answer is I do. My own desires lure and entice me. My sinful nature is the bait that gets me onto the hook. Think about what that might look like in practice. There is a trial in our life, a situation which is just very hard. Maybe it is cancer, maybe it is an unjust situation, but maybe it is just everyday exhaustion. And that trial becomes a temptation because within me there is something that chimes with it. There's something that resonates with it. There is an answering chord within us. So my body is exhausted, to which an enticing desire comes along and says, You need your eight hours' sleep, even if it means neglecting the Lord and neglecting other people in your life. It's an enticing desire that meets that situation of trial. And James says, gives us another image. He says it's a little bit like childbirth. See that in verse 15. Have a look at verse 15 again. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. So take a person. When did that person begin? Let's get a time machine. Let's wind the time machine back. The person gets younger and they get smaller. But when did they actually begin? When did that person come into existence? Well, okay, with the time machine, keep going backwards. We're in the hospital. They're given birth to, they are coming out of their mother. They are visible in the world. But is that the point at which that person began? No. You keep winding the time machine backwards. Oh, that is where that person began. At the point of conception. And James says, so too with sin. So imagine a baby called sin. Not a name that's going to catch on. James's illustration, not mine. Imagine a baby called sin. The sin baby does not begin at the point of birth. Yet it becomes evident at that particular point in time. You can see it, you can hear it, you can feel its presence. Its beginning, its conception, it lies further back. It lies in our sinful desires. Desires give birth to sin. Once sin is then produced, once it's evident, it grows. Becomes a sin toddler, sin adolescent, and gets bigger and stronger and uglier, and it will become mature in sin, and it will bring death. Spiritual death, eternal death, unless, unless, unless, unless the Lord arrests this process. Without the Holy Spirit stepping in, it is absolutely inexorable. And James says, you need to know this. Don't be deceived. There is a huge potential for believing plausible lies. This tells us what the biggest problem is and is not in our lives. The biggest problem in the world is not Satan. Yes, Satan leans on this weakness in us, but that is not my biggest obstacle to wholeness. The biggest problem in the world is not my circumstances, is not your circumstances, those annoying people, that beautiful woman, my exhausting schedule, my upbringing. Do you know what my parents were like? Or my biology, do you know what's happening inside of me in my hormones, in my genetics? Because if you were to take away Satan, if you were to take away those circumstances, there is still that problem in here. In my desires, in my loves. The biggest obstacle to my wholeness is my sinful desire. Now, one implication. There is no way in which we can trust our own natures. Now that was a hugely countercultural thing to say right now. Can't say any more about that. And this is true of everyone, every single person, except one, except our Lord Jesus Christ. And it is so important that he is not like us. He had trials. Boy, Jesus had trials like you and I will never know. He had external trials, circumstances that caused unimaginable pain and grief. For us, they would have so easily led us into sin. Think of Jesus in the wilderness being tempted by Satan. We could say of Jesus that Satan held external temptations in front of him. Think about his life, what Jesus experienced, injustice, exhaustion, the prospect of dying on the cross. But, and here's the difference between him and us there was nothing in the Lord Jesus which chimed with that, which resonated with it, that bends towards it. There was no inside longing in Jesus that made him want to do the will of the devil. So, for example, when We read elsewhere in the New Testament, he was tempted as we are. That means all of those outward things that come before us, he knew them all, he knew the force of them all, but he was without sin. Not just no external sins, but no answering inclination within. And that is so important for our salvation that we have a pure and spotless plan. We need a pure and whole Saviour. But how do we walk to life? Verse 12, when the thrust of our nature pulls us towards death, verse 15. That's the problem, isn't it? We want to be whole, but we are split. What do you do when you feel the desire to sin? We cannot heal our own divided hearts. We know that, don't we? Well, James tells us that wholeness is a gift from above. It's a gift from above. And so we look to God for the gift that makes us whole. See that perfect gift spoken of in verse 17, a perfect gift, literally a whole gift, a complete, entire gift. And here is the answer to the split soul. And what we do, therefore, is quite simple of one level, but it's easy not to do it. If God has something, and he says it's a gift, well, we're to ask for it. We're to ask for it. We first ask for forgiveness, don't we? It's a two-part gift, and the first part is forgiveness, not just for the things that we do, but also for those desires. You know, for the longings of our hearts, which are just so often wrong. But we also ask for wholeness. Join up my heart. Help me to love you wholeheartedly, to obey you more than I do. And the lovely thing about our God is that he stands ready to give. See that in verse 17. He is light, he's the father of light. We need light, and he doesn't change. We need unchangeability. So we can have something of God in us. And he has started this renovation project already. If you've been a Christian a while, you will probably be frustrated by the lack of holiness and progress in your own life. I certainly am. Verse 18 should encourage us. A Christian is someone in whom God has started a renovation project. Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth. Just think on that sentence with me for a moment. So if you're a Christian, that sentence is true every single moment. Even when you're tempted, especially perhaps when you're tempted, that sentence is true. Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth. So it is God's will that you are a Christian. Yes, you and I at one level chose God. We've repented and believed. It is because he first chose you. And that is a marvellous thing and a great belief. It's his job. Second, he has brought you forth. It's childbirth again. There has been another conception, there's been another delivery. We're back in the birth suite. And this time it's not sinful desire, giving birth to sin which grows up to death. It's a new kind of birth. It's a new birth, in fact, to what the Bible calls regeneration elsewhere. So, Christian, you and I are new. We are new creatures. And he brought us forth, how? By the word of truth. So here is the power tool that the Lord loves to use to bring regeneration, and that is the scriptures, the sword of the Holy Spirit. And all of the other graces that flow to us from the new birth, they come through Scripture by the Spirit as God's gift. Wholeness, that thing we crave so much, it comes from the Word of God. So here is a gift, it's the gift of God. We pray and we deploy the Word of God upon our souls. Now that last bit, I'm not going to say any more about now because that's actually where James will go in the next part of his letter. I might like to have a read on. We're actually taking a two-week break from James, but Palm Sunday and then Easter Sunday, and then God willing, after that, we will pick up with the word of God and what we are to do with it. Now, Christian people, this battle, this war, it will not be over in this life. But here is the courage, the encouragement. God has set us on this road. It starts with regeneration and the new birth, and it is a road that will end in wholeness. A whole love and a whole heart. And that is a glorious thought. And on the way, as we confess and repent, as we confess not just actions, but also screwed up loves, we will find that he gives wholeness. We will receive his love. We'll find new loves, new desires. A heart which wants to sin less tomorrow than it does today. Let's bow our heads. I'm going to pray. Let me pray for us. Some words from Joel chapter 2 to help lead our response. Heavenly Father, you know that we have split hearts, we have divided hearts. We thank you that you are not content with that. You encourage us, you command us, you say to us, return to me with all your hearts, tear your hearts and not your garments. And so give us grace, we pray, to do that. We don't want to be deceived, we are so easily deceived. And we praise you that when we return to you, we come back to a Lord, to the Lord, our God, who is gracious and merciful and slow to anger, and who abounds in steadfast love. So do this word in us, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen.