WEBVTT 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:05.759 Well, if you're a visitor with us this morning, you don't own a copy of God's word. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:10.640 Feel free to use the Bible in the pew in front of you and you can take that home if you don't own the Bible. 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:13.759 We want to make sure everyone has a copy of God's word. 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:16.719 We continue through James chapter one. 00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:31.120 This morning, we are going to be looking at verses 13 through 18, as James, as a good pastor, is giving these Christians godly wisdom on how to endure trials and sufferings to the glory of God. 00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:39.359 Verses 13 through 18 pulls back the curtain on what's really happening when temptation hits. 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:45.359 We learned last week that trials are not God's punishment, but rather they are his training ground. 00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:53.119 They are something that God sovereignly superintends to refine our faith and mature us as disciples of Christ. 00:00:53.359 --> 00:01:16.159 But in verses 13 through 18, James now reminds us that when we face trials and sufferings of various kinds, the problem isn't God's testing, it's our tempting and exposing the contrast, He's exposing the contrast between our deceitful desires in our hearts and God's faithful love in the midst of our trials. 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:19.680 So in just these few verses, I want us to focus on this. 00:01:19.920 --> 00:01:26.719 When we face trials, when we suffer, God, our Father, is never your tempter. 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:37.760 He's always your father and giver of grace. 00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:45.760 When life gets hard, our instincts, for those of us who are human, is to look to someone to blame. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:52.079 Sometimes we're guilty of even blaming God for our sin and temptation. 00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:54.319 But James won't let us go there. 00:01:54.480 --> 00:02:00.879 He reminds us God's testing is never him tempting you, but rather him refining you. 00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:26.159 Starting in verse 13 of James chapter 1, picking up where we left off last week, James makes it very clear, no one under any circumstance undergoing a trial should say, I am being tempted by God, since God is not tempted by evil and he himself doesn't tempt anyone. 00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:31.280 So my first point, we're gonna camp out here at verse 13 for a few minutes. 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:33.919 Don't blame God for your temptation. 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:37.199 Rather trust his purpose in the trial. 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:42.960 Don't blame God for your temptation, but rather trust his purpose in the trial. 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:52.080 I don't know about you, but passages like this just make me better appreciate the Bible because it shows me, okay, the Lord understands our human experience. 00:02:52.400 --> 00:03:07.680 He is speaking to every crevice of our lives, even the areas where we are weak and we rebel and are prone to wonder and be tempted in our trials to point the finger at God and say, You're responsible for my sinful reactions or thinking and behaving. 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:13.840 But so James, he knows his people's reflexes when life gets hard and that they are going to point the finger. 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:27.919 But he says, if God, or rather, this is how we tend to think, if God is sovereign over all things, then maybe he's behind this temptation that is bringing trouble in my life. 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:41.599 And we'll talk about the difference in an inward temptation that is from a sinful inclination in our hearts, and then the fact that God is sovereign over some all things and permits things to take place in our life. 00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:42.800 There's a difference. 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:46.800 But James draws a sharp line in the sand. 00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:53.360 God's sovereignty does not ever, under any circumstance, make him the author of sin. 00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:58.479 Or more specifically, doesn't make him the author of your sinful choices. 00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:01.280 His holiness makes that absolutely impossible. 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:08.800 If God is holy, he cannot tempt with evil, because that would make him unholy and he would cease to be God. 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:20.720 However, according to James, God does bring tests, trials to train his children, but never to lay a snare. 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:27.199 Your heavenly father is never in the business of I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm just having fun in heaven with my children. 00:04:27.360 --> 00:04:32.480 I'm gonna lay out some spiritual traps to trip up my children, to give them a hard time. 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:34.319 No, that's that's foolishness. 00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:36.000 That sounds like Greek mythology. 00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:43.360 God is a father who is wholly devoted to his children's sanctification and his own glory. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:52.240 So God does bring trials sovereignly, he permits trials in our lives, but he never lays traps to trip us up. 00:04:52.480 --> 00:05:03.839 God's purpose in a trial, as we saw last week, is always on our end for our spiritual formation and transformation, but never for our frustration. 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:09.439 God is not a deity in the sky with a magnifying glass trying to burn ants just for the sake of it. 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:12.319 He is committed to your spiritual growth. 00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:16.319 He intends to refine faith, not ruin faith. 00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:22.480 When you walk through trials and fire, you're not being punished, you're being purified. 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:27.600 He's turning raw faith into tested and proven gold. 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:35.680 He's building endurance, he's building a greater love for him, he's building a greater awareness of his faithfulness in your heart. 00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:48.399 So know that, Christian, God's God's loving correction and training he brings into your life is never punitive, it's never motivated by wrath, it's never God, or on the other end, maybe some might think, well, God is sleep on the job. 00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:54.319 He took a nap, and that's how I ended up going through this season of suffering because God just wasn't on his job. 00:05:54.639 --> 00:05:57.120 No, that is never the case. 00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:00.240 You're being purified, you're being refined. 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:10.000 Think about Abraham on Mount Moriah when God tested him, not to destroy his faith, but to display it. 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:18.319 When God commanded Abraham to offer up his son Isaac, you would think, what on earth kind of God is this? 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:19.600 What is going on? 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:22.319 But we have the benefit of having the the whole Bible, right? 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:23.759 We know the whole story. 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:29.519 God wasn't trying to ruin Abraham's faith because he ultimately provided the ram. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:31.279 That's what God is like. 00:06:31.519 --> 00:06:37.439 He stretches your trust in him so that you'll see that he can be trusted. 00:06:37.839 --> 00:06:40.639 And here's the thing: God is all knowing, right? 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:46.000 See, he already knows what decisions we're gonna make, he already knows the outcome of the trials he's bringing in our life. 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:49.279 So if that's true, that should shape how you view your trial, right? 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:56.959 Because that means, okay, everything God is doing and superintending in this trial, it's primarily for my benefit. 00:06:57.199 --> 00:07:04.800 Because he already knows what prayers he's gonna answer, how he's gonna answer them, by what means, how he's gonna deliver me, what he's forming in me through this. 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:13.920 So when he tempts uh, or when he tests rather Abraham, he knew the outcome, but he was doing something in that brother. 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:18.160 Or to use a negative example, let's just go all the way back to the beginning, Genesis. 00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:25.519 When you look at the story of Adam and Eve, God did not have to put the forbidden tree in the garden. 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:28.560 That tree was a trial. 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:32.319 You have, Adam and Eve, everything you will ever need. 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:33.040 Me. 00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:36.480 You have perfect relationship and access to me. 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:39.279 There is no barrier in our relationship. 00:07:39.839 --> 00:07:45.759 If you want to maintain that love and favor in that community we have, all you gotta do is one thing. 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:48.959 Stay away from that one tree. 00:07:49.759 --> 00:07:55.519 That was a trial of testing, and yet Adam and Eve failed the test. 00:07:56.079 --> 00:07:59.920 So when you are tempted, Christian, do not accuse God of cruelty. 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:01.439 This is what Adam did. 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:04.319 We gotta be careful not to beat up on Eve all the time. 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:05.680 The Bible is very clear. 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:07.040 Eve was deceived. 00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:10.879 She's responsible, she rebelled, but Eve was deceived. 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:13.920 But you ever pay attention to what Adam did? 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:16.959 So some people focus on, well, he blamed Eve. 00:08:17.279 --> 00:08:18.639 Not necessarily. 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:25.920 If you really read what he said, yes, he's throwing his bride under the bus, which is already shameful, but he points the finger back at God. 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:29.920 He's like, bro, the woman you gave me. 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:37.519 It's almost like he's saying, like, I was cool just with the the lions, the elephants, all that. 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:41.120 You gave me her, and now here we are. 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:53.679 Think about how how hardened his heart must have been to go from perfect communion with God to now pointing the finger and blaming God for the sin that has entered into the world. 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:59.360 So when we are tempted by God, we can never accuse God of cruelty. 00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:03.200 Rather, we run to him as our refuge. 00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:11.200 The God who is our father who ordains the test will always, always give grace to endure it. 00:09:11.679 --> 00:09:14.480 Now I know that's a hard saying. 00:09:14.799 --> 00:09:17.840 If you're human like me, I don't I'm like, God, I don't want to endure. 00:09:17.919 --> 00:09:19.360 I just I don't even want to go through it. 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:20.320 How can I? 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:21.440 What's the shortcut? 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:24.480 How can I just completely avoid it? 00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:27.759 But we are not sovereign. 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:31.440 We don't even know how the rest of the course of this day is gonna go. 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:39.440 But what we do know is God is faithful, he is loving, and everything is governed by his loving, faithful, sovereign hand. 00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:50.000 So he ordains the tests, he brings about sovereignly the trials in our lives, he permits them, but he will always give grace to endure them. 00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:55.279 His hand may be heavy, but his heart is never hostile. 00:09:56.080 --> 00:10:04.559 You are never going through a trial because God is angry with you, because there's wrath in his heart and he's punishing you. 00:10:04.799 --> 00:10:08.639 No, all of good, you need to receive this if you struggle with this this morning. 00:10:08.879 --> 00:10:15.759 Any wrath God has ever had in his heart that was pointed at you was poured out on Jesus on the cross if you're in Christ this morning. 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:22.080 There remains not a single ounce of wrath in the heart of God to any of his children. 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:24.879 It was exhausted upon Christ. 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:35.919 So any thought, any teaching that would say, Well, God is punishing you because you don't have enough faith, or because you did this thing you promised him you would never do, that's not how God operates. 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:39.440 Everything he does is motivated by his character. 00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:45.600 And his character is one of holiness, righteousness, love, goodness, and faithfulness. 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:51.519 First Corinthians 10 13, many of you are familiar with, Paul says, God is faithful. 00:10:52.320 --> 00:10:55.759 He will not allow you to be tempted beyond which you are able. 00:10:56.240 --> 00:11:00.639 But with the temptation, he will also provide the way out. 00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:10.159 Notice when Paul gave this encouragement to the church in Corinth, he chose one attribute of God to highlight before he gave the counsel. 00:11:10.799 --> 00:11:13.919 God is what faithful. 00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:16.320 He is faithful. 00:11:17.039 --> 00:11:25.840 When suffering and trials tempt you to question God's goodness, we are to fight with God's help to see his purpose in the trial. 00:11:26.159 --> 00:11:29.600 Faith is not built in comfort but in crucibles. 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:32.639 I'm sorry, that's just the reality of the Christian life. 00:11:32.879 --> 00:11:39.360 God most often sanctifies us through the school of suffering, and you did not choose to register. 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:42.480 When you came to faith, you were already enrolled. 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:55.120 But praise be to God that our suffering is never meaningless, it's never purposeless, it's never something that caught God off guard, and now he has to react and figure out, okay, what how can I use this? 00:11:55.360 --> 00:11:55.679 No. 00:11:55.919 --> 00:12:01.360 Before you took a single breath on this planet, he knew every detail of your life before you did. 00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:08.559 So when suffering tempts you to question God's goodness, fight with God's help to see his purpose. 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:19.679 This is why James could so strongly say, no one undergoing a trial should say, I am being tempted by God. 00:12:20.960 --> 00:12:25.600 So if God isn't to blame for our temptation, then who is? 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:30.720 James says, friends, look in the mirror. 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:35.600 Temptation starts not in the world around you, but in the heart within you. 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:39.039 Which brings me to verses 14 through 15. 00:12:40.240 --> 00:12:48.080 Where I want us to look at this don't excuse your sin, expose the sinful desires behind it. 00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:50.879 Let's look at verses 14 through 15. 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:52.000 He continues on. 00:12:53.120 --> 00:13:01.919 But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. 00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:07.600 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:12.399 And when sin is fully grown, it gives to death. 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:19.120 James moves from God's holiness to our own sinfully weak and depraved hearts. 00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:21.279 And it's not a flattering picture, is it? 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:22.799 I mean, we know the passage, right? 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:25.840 The heart is deceitfully wicked, can't trust it. 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:28.080 That's true of every last one of us. 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:33.679 Which means, friends, the real enemy of our souls is not necessarily out there somewhere externally. 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:35.039 It's right in here. 00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:37.279 It's in our own hearts. 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:39.919 This is why we gotta be careful with our language as Christians. 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:41.840 Well, the devil made me do it. 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:43.039 No, he didn't. 00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:44.639 You made you do it. 00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:48.720 Your sinful flesh that led you to stray from the God you love. 00:13:48.879 --> 00:13:50.559 The real enemy is out there. 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:54.320 This is why we gotta be careful about blaming our external circumstances. 00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:58.559 Well, I wouldn't have done that if I didn't grow up in the environment I grew up in. 00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:06.320 Certainly plays a factor, provokes you, but you choose to make the sinful choices you make, according to James. 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:11.840 Temptation doesn't begin with circumstance, it begins with desired. 00:14:12.399 --> 00:14:24.960 The devil and his fallen angels and the world culture, they may bait, they may be do the bait in the hook, but the fish bites because it's hungry. 00:14:25.279 --> 00:14:31.200 We choose sinful things because we want those sinful desires to come to fruition. 00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:33.200 Notice the language James uses. 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:38.080 He says, drawn away and enticed. 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:40.159 Vivid language, isn't it? 00:14:40.399 --> 00:14:43.679 It's the language of hunting, it's the language of seduction. 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:47.039 A desire lures us in, not with what's ugly. 00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:48.080 Think about that. 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:53.919 Temptation wouldn't be temptation if it wasn't attractive, if it wasn't appealing to our desires, right? 00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:56.240 Like, for instance, I have never eaten sushi. 00:14:56.480 --> 00:14:58.320 I have zero desire to eat sushi. 00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:01.440 Just the idea of people eating raw fish makes zero sense to me. 00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:04.879 So that's not a temptation for me to binge out on sushi. 00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:06.399 I'm like, no, thank you. 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:16.799 But other things, if there was a bucket of bon chan fried chicken, I would be tempted to empty that tray because that's enticing. 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:18.480 That's how temptation works. 00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:22.080 Our flesh knows what our inclinations are. 00:15:22.399 --> 00:15:27.360 The world presents to us things that provoke sinful desires in us. 00:15:27.600 --> 00:15:32.159 But once we give in, we have proven how deceitful our hearts really are. 00:15:34.159 --> 00:15:40.559 But here's what seems to be the good part we don't have to choose to give in. 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:43.039 That's the beauty of coming to faith in Christ. 00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:44.480 The Spirit indwells us. 00:15:44.559 --> 00:15:59.279 We've been given new desires, new affections, and now we have the spiritual capacity to say, No, that doesn't please the Father, or that's no longer who I am, even if it's enticing, that doesn't mean I have to give in. 00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:06.159 Because the warning James gives is if you feed that desire instead of fighting it, I love this language. 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:12.240 It starts with a desire, it conceives and gives birth to sin. 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:22.399 What begins as a small thought, such as I deserve blank, or well, that is not a big deal. 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:32.480 Well, that thought grows into a habit, and a habit becomes a lifestyle, and that lifestyle now puts you in chains. 00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:35.679 Slavery to sin and death. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:38.639 James sketches a pretty grim family tree here. 00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:46.559 It starts with desire, turns into sin, and sin always leads to death. 00:16:47.519 --> 00:16:52.240 Sin always overpromises and underdelivers. 00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:56.159 This is where sanctification gets real for us, right? 00:16:56.639 --> 00:16:59.440 We don't just fight sin at the level of behavior. 00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:03.919 Christians should never stop at external behavior modification. 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:08.960 I will just stop behaving a certain way externally, but my heart doesn't really change. 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:13.279 No, God is always concerned primarily with your heart. 00:17:13.759 --> 00:17:16.400 Why are you stopping the behavior? 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:18.559 Well, because I love Jesus. 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:33.119 Think about uh when we went through first and second Peter and Jude, one thing that stood out to me about the emphasis on being on guard against false teachers is what is one of the fundamental differences in a false teacher and a true communicator of God's word? 00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:37.519 And I would say one of them, there's many, I would say one is gratitude. 00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:51.599 I love preaching God's word to you guys because I'm excited to help people learn more about Jesus and how they could follow him, because I'm grateful for the fact that he has given us his special revelation and he sent his son to purchase us on the cross. 00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:54.400 A false teacher is not motivated by gratitude. 00:17:54.559 --> 00:18:04.319 They are motivated by, I don't know, fame, building a following, deceiving people, but it's certainly not gratitude for God's saving grace towards them. 00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:10.720 So we don't just fight sin at the level of behavior, we fight it at the level of our desires. 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:17.920 When lust or pride or greed flares up, we should try to trace it to see what is lying underneath that. 00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:27.839 Like I know what I said or what I did in my behavior, but what started as the desire that then gave birth to the action that was sinful. 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:30.720 That's real sanctification. 00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:38.640 And to think that God is withholding something good from us isn't another lie of our flesh and the enemy. 00:18:38.720 --> 00:18:40.480 That's often what's at the heart of temptation. 00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:42.240 That's what happened with Adam and Eve. 00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:48.319 The Satan was essentially tempting them to say, God is withholding his full goodness from you. 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:52.880 He doesn't want you to know that if you participate in this fruit, you'll be like him. 00:18:53.039 --> 00:18:54.160 You'll know good from evil. 00:18:54.240 --> 00:18:56.640 And he did, he wasn't necessarily lying. 00:18:56.960 --> 00:19:01.440 They absolutely came to a knowledge of good and evil, but that was never God's intention. 00:19:01.599 --> 00:19:04.559 They didn't know the full picture as God did. 00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:08.160 So we got to be careful about this. 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:12.319 It's the same lie that Satan told Eve in the garden. 00:19:12.640 --> 00:19:18.640 We also got to be careful about recognizing, because as James is telling us, hey, this starts in your heart, guys. 00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:25.920 It's a desire, and after desire, it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, gives birth to death. 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:31.519 That also means then that sin is not something that that happens to you, so to speak. 00:19:31.759 --> 00:19:34.880 What I mean by that is you don't like trip and fall into sin. 00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:38.079 It is a it is a volitional choice. 00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:40.079 It is something we choose to do. 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:42.960 We are actively rebelling against God. 00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:52.160 This is why I always kind of laugh inside when I listen to like politicians who get caught up in some controversy and they give a speech and they're like, you know, that was a mistake. 00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:54.640 That doesn't represent who I am, kind of language. 00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:56.160 And it's like, no, it does. 00:19:56.319 --> 00:20:02.640 That's actually probably the most accurate picture we've gotten of you, because that's the same thing that's true of all of us in this room. 00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:05.200 Our hearts reveal our desires. 00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:08.880 The actions go back to the desires in our hearts. 00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:21.359 So sin is not something that happens to you accidentally, it's something that is growing from inside your heart, your sinful desires, and gives birth to action and ultimately death. 00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:25.279 Let me just give some real life scenarios so I'm not talking over your heads here. 00:20:25.599 --> 00:20:34.160 Think of the young man who says, who's struggling with a pattern of habitual sin and is just wondering, I have no idea how on earth, God, did I get here? 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:38.799 How did I get to this point of struggling with this sin the way that I do? 00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:43.519 Little James says, Well, brother, trace it back to the desires of your heart. 00:20:43.839 --> 00:20:51.200 It started when a desire was entertained instead of crucified, and now it has given birth to a lifestyle. 00:20:51.519 --> 00:20:58.000 Or think of the woman who keeps scrolling through social media and is now tempted to envy others' lives. 00:20:58.319 --> 00:21:08.480 Because as I scroll, I'm coveting what others I perceive to have that I realize I don't have, and now I'm envious or I'm bitter towards other people. 00:21:09.039 --> 00:21:13.920 Well, that's how a desire gives birth and grows and grows into more and more sin. 00:21:14.559 --> 00:21:21.119 Or think of the husband or wife who, you know, justifies a flirtatious friendship in the workplace. 00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:23.680 Like, oh, that's just that, that's just that person's personality. 00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:25.680 They're flirtatious, it's not a big deal. 00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:30.880 And they entertain it and they entertain it, and the next thing you know, they're blowing up their entire family. 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:40.559 Or all the celebrity Christians, pastors we all, you know, see on social media who end up falling, and we realize, how on earth did that guy do that? 00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:47.759 It's like, well, it started maybe many years ago with one small compromise that led to another one. 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:49.200 Now think about it. 00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:57.519 There's probably been a time in your, and you're there's probably been a time in your walk with the Lord where maybe a certain temptation was like terrifying to you. 00:21:57.680 --> 00:21:59.759 Like just the thought of giving in to that temptation. 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:02.640 Just caused alarm. 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:05.279 But then you tr you fell into that sin. 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:07.599 You gave in, you did again. 00:22:07.759 --> 00:22:13.680 And all of a sudden, that sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, that conviction, it kind of started to wane a little bit. 00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:16.880 And it started becoming easier and easier to say yes. 00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:21.359 And the next thing you know, it's a year, two years later, five years later, and you're like, wait, what on earth? 00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:22.960 How did I get here, Lord? 00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:25.519 How did I get to this point? 00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:28.799 This is what James is warning against. 00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:49.839 Listen, friends, when you find your heart craving attention, affirmation, or pleasure outside of God's will, we need to ask, what am I believing about God that makes this sin look better to me than obedience? 00:22:50.480 --> 00:23:11.119 Whenever our hearts find ourselves craving for anything that's in the category of attention, affirmation, or pleasure, which are all good things, but if we're craving those things outside of God's will, we need to ask ourselves, what am I believing about God that makes this sin look better than joyful obedience to my heavenly Father? 00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:13.440 That's how we trace back the heart. 00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:15.440 Because listen to Galatians 5. 00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:25.359 Paul says, I say then, walk by the Spirit, and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh. 00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:32.400 For the flesh desires what is against the spirit, and the spirit desires what is against the flesh. 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:37.759 These are opposed to each other, so that you don't do what you want. 00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:41.519 I just described everyone's Christian experience right now. 00:23:41.839 --> 00:23:49.599 You have a war going on in your hearts, and it's not some yin-yin-yang, it's not a Marvel movie where we're rooting for is the good guy gonna win or the bad guy? 00:23:49.759 --> 00:23:51.920 No, the spirit triumphs. 00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:57.440 However, on this side of heaven, on this side of glory, there's an internal battle. 00:23:57.680 --> 00:24:04.720 The spirit of God in you, when you study God's word, when you hear the word of God taught and preached to you, your spirit agrees with it. 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:06.559 Yes, I want to please my father. 00:24:06.799 --> 00:24:09.279 I want to walk in God's revealed will. 00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:13.200 And when that desire is there, there's another one right there present with it. 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:18.960 Your sinful flesh trying to lead you to do the very thing you don't want to do. 00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:23.359 Go read Romans 7, and you see Paul's own story where he's saying the same thing. 00:24:23.519 --> 00:24:30.400 I want to obey what uh God's law, and I find another law in my flesh telling me to do what I don't want to do. 00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:41.359 And to convict us all even more, in Mark chapter 7, Jesus made it very clear from within, out of people's hearts, come evil thoughts. 00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:46.240 All these evils come from within and defile a person. 00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:52.000 Makes more sense when Jesus said, No one is good, right? 00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:57.519 There's no such thing as a good person, because we all know our hearts. 00:24:57.839 --> 00:25:06.160 Now the question is, if if the sinful desire is where it starts, and we have to combat those sinful desires, how do we do that? 00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:07.200 How do we do it? 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:14.720 Do we do we have some kind of spiritual button we just flip and then okay, that desire is just turned off and we've conquered that sin or that temptation and struggle? 00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:19.039 Well, there was a pastor named Thomas Chalmers who lived many centuries ago. 00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:26.400 He uh, I believe it was a sermon actually that was turned into a short booklet called The Expulsive Power of a New Affection. 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:28.400 Sounds like old language, doesn't it? 00:25:28.720 --> 00:25:40.319 He has this quote that has stuck with me for years that summarizes the main thesis of that book on how do we replace a desire for something that is evil and wicked with a desire for something that glorifies the Lord. 00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:42.799 And this is his answer. 00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:52.720 The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one. 00:25:53.680 --> 00:25:59.759 The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one. 00:25:59.920 --> 00:26:03.200 Let me modernize that for us in Cam's new urban translation. 00:26:03.519 --> 00:26:10.400 If you want to abort your love for wickedness, you replace it with a stronger desire for Jesus. 00:26:10.559 --> 00:26:11.920 That's what he's saying. 00:26:12.160 --> 00:26:14.799 It's not some spiritual Christian juju sauce. 00:26:15.519 --> 00:26:19.279 You want to sin because you love that sin. 00:26:19.759 --> 00:26:23.839 The way to conquer that sin is to love Jesus more than that sin. 00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:31.599 I was in a counseling relationship with a dear brother who I love to this day, good friend, who wrestled with some pretty extreme sexual sin. 00:26:32.160 --> 00:26:36.960 And we were meeting for counseling for a very long time, a little over six months or so. 00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:47.279 And I noticed a pattern in which when we met, I started to feel like I think when we meet, you're you're just kind of using these sessions to just confess sin. 00:26:47.599 --> 00:26:53.359 Like you're just giving me a report card of you doing the same thing every week, but you're not really trying to change. 00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:59.279 And and I had a close relationship with this brother, so I could speak honestly with him, and I'm kind of a straight shooter anyway. 00:26:59.440 --> 00:27:03.680 So I at one point I sat him down and I said, brother, I don't think we should meet anymore. 00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:05.039 He said, Why? 00:27:05.359 --> 00:27:14.559 I said, Well, I'm giving you God's word, I'm giving you counsel, and you're still, and again, I understand struggling with sin and trying to break free. 00:27:14.720 --> 00:27:24.000 But I was like, you're kind of diving right in, and you just show up every week and just confess as if it's like therapeutic to you just to confess the sin, but not actually repent of the sin. 00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:30.240 I said, So I don't think I can help you because I'm convinced you love you love sexual sin more than Jesus. 00:27:31.119 --> 00:27:35.519 So just pursue your sin, and if you choose to repent, I'm happy to help you. 00:27:35.839 --> 00:27:40.240 Well, that brother was very hurt and offended by that remark. 00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:44.160 And later, by God's grace, came back and said, You know what? 00:27:44.400 --> 00:27:49.519 That was the most helpful thing that the Lord used to help me truly break away from my sin. 00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:58.880 He said, My heart had become so hard, I realized I was just content with just checking the box of I'm confessing my sin, but not actually turning from it. 00:27:59.039 --> 00:28:03.759 And I was in danger of my sin giving birth ultimately to death. 00:28:05.039 --> 00:28:13.519 We have to replace, to dispossess the heart of an old affection with a more powerful affection for Jesus Christ. 00:28:14.079 --> 00:28:22.319 The antidote isn't willpower, it isn't how can I just, you know, stir up enough faith and strength to resist my sin? 00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:24.400 No, friends, you will fail every time. 00:28:24.559 --> 00:28:26.480 The answer is worship. 00:28:26.880 --> 00:28:28.480 The answer is worship. 00:28:28.640 --> 00:28:31.119 I'm not just trying to give some spiritual Christian answer here. 00:28:31.279 --> 00:28:32.559 That is the answer. 00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:39.759 Why would someone say no to a sin because they think, because how could I sin against my savior in this way? 00:28:40.160 --> 00:28:45.759 All that he has done for me, how could I wreck my family by pursuing that adulterous relationship? 00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:56.000 When Jesus hung on a cross to purchase me from my sin, how can I abuse his grace to pursue sin and just confess it later because I know he'll forgive me? 00:28:56.319 --> 00:29:00.240 This is worship that leads to obedience. 00:29:00.480 --> 00:29:03.440 And let's not forget, we do have an enemy of our soul. 00:29:03.519 --> 00:29:05.759 We have our own deceitful hearts working against us. 00:29:05.839 --> 00:29:10.559 We have the enemy and his fallen angels and the culture also trying to lead us astray. 00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:13.759 And we must be wise against the devil's schemes. 00:29:13.920 --> 00:29:18.240 Uh, a Christian classic, I would encourage every Christian at least once to read at some point. 00:29:18.319 --> 00:29:24.960 There's a modernized, abridged version uh called uh Precious Remedies Against Satan Devices by Thomas Brooks. 00:29:25.119 --> 00:29:26.240 There's a Christian classic. 00:29:26.319 --> 00:29:30.000 He lived long ago, but you can find an abridged version in modern English. 00:29:30.079 --> 00:29:35.039 Uh, but precious remedies against Satan, Satan's Devices by Thomas Brooks. 00:29:35.359 --> 00:29:36.960 Listen to his counsel. 00:29:37.200 --> 00:29:41.920 He says, Satan promises the best, but pays with the worst. 00:29:42.400 --> 00:29:45.839 He promises honor and pays with disgrace. 00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:49.759 He promises pleasure and pays with pain. 00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:53.519 He promises profit and pays with loss. 00:29:53.839 --> 00:29:57.920 He promises life and pays with death. 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:09.920 I love how one author once said, Why for a drop of sin would we take on an ocean of God's wrath? 00:30:11.359 --> 00:30:12.720 That's what we're doing. 00:30:12.960 --> 00:30:23.039 When we willfully pursue our sinful desires, we are entertaining a drop of sin and flirting with the possibility of receiving an ocean of God's wrath. 00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:32.400 I remember a pastor talking, sharing a story, he had, or sharing a story in which he had a conversation with a man in his church who was caught in adultery and was unrepentant. 00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:33.920 He did not want to end the relationship. 00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:35.359 He was a member of the church. 00:30:35.599 --> 00:30:45.440 And after several, you know, conversations calling this brother to repentance to no avail, the pastor finally sat him down and said, Brother, if you do not fight your sin, you will go to hell. 00:30:45.759 --> 00:30:46.720 And this man was shocked. 00:30:46.799 --> 00:30:47.680 He's like, What are you talking about? 00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:49.839 I'm a member of this church, I've been baptized. 00:30:50.240 --> 00:30:52.640 It's like he's like, I don't care about any of that. 00:30:52.960 --> 00:31:01.200 If you habitually keep calling what God calls evil good, that might be sign a sign that you never were truly born again. 00:31:01.519 --> 00:31:05.440 If you don't fight your sin, you will go to hell. 00:31:06.319 --> 00:31:16.960 Now, in our cultural moment, I want to speak briefly to a temptation that even us Christians can face and maybe even be deceived by. 00:31:17.200 --> 00:31:18.640 Now, y'all know my background. 00:31:18.720 --> 00:31:20.240 I I love biblical counseling. 00:31:20.319 --> 00:31:25.519 I just see I don't really like that title because I just see it as a season of intensive discipleship, right? 00:31:25.920 --> 00:31:29.759 But let me just speak to how James's words speak to our modern days. 00:31:29.839 --> 00:31:42.079 So if we go back to our verses here in 14 through 15, so James makes it clear, but each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire in our hearts. 00:31:42.240 --> 00:31:48.319 Then after desire has conceded, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death. 00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:55.440 We currently live in a culture that is eager to explain everything primarily in psychological terms. 00:31:55.759 --> 00:31:59.119 If you're angry, it's because of repressed trauma. 00:31:59.359 --> 00:32:03.039 If you're anxious, well, it's a chemical imbalance. 00:32:03.519 --> 00:32:08.240 If you're selfish or impulsive, maybe it's a personality disorder. 00:32:08.720 --> 00:32:21.519 The problem is not that people are noticing pain in our current lives, but it's rather that they're relabeling pain in a way that erases a biblical understanding of the heart. 00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:26.559 When we medicalize sin, we remove personal responsibility. 00:32:26.720 --> 00:32:28.240 Not always, but often. 00:32:28.480 --> 00:32:36.640 When we psychologize our struggles, we silence the categories that the Bible gives us on how to think about these things. 00:32:36.880 --> 00:32:46.559 Categories such as desire, like we hear James say, idolatry, unbelief, fear of man, pride, envy, shame. 00:32:46.960 --> 00:32:54.240 James tells us temptation is coming from within, not from a diagnosis code. 00:32:54.720 --> 00:33:05.759 Once we trade the language of sin and repentance for the language of disorder and therapy, people lose the very hope the gospel provides, the hope that Christ can actually change people's hearts. 00:33:06.079 --> 00:33:15.839 Disclaimer before any of y'all email me, I am not saying that people who have been diagnosed with certain mental illnesses are not experiencing real pain and suffering in their lives. 00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:17.440 That is absolutely true. 00:33:17.680 --> 00:33:31.039 But think about this the DSM 5, which is the manual psychiatrists and all of them use who diagnose people with these disorders, has over 400 diagnoses in there describing abnormal behavior. 00:33:31.200 --> 00:33:34.160 And not once does the manual define normal behavior. 00:33:34.400 --> 00:33:35.920 Isn't that interesting? 00:33:36.160 --> 00:33:38.079 And not, well, I should back up. 00:33:38.160 --> 00:33:45.759 I think only one diagnosis in the manual is based on biological lab work, and that's cannabis addiction. 00:33:46.240 --> 00:33:48.079 That's a whole nother sermon. 00:33:48.400 --> 00:33:49.440 But hear me carefully. 00:33:49.519 --> 00:33:52.079 I'm again, I'm not saying all suffering is sinful. 00:33:52.160 --> 00:33:53.279 I would never say that. 00:33:53.440 --> 00:34:04.480 There are real cases of neurological and biological illnesses like dementia, uh, traumatic brain injuries, thyroid disorders, postpartum depression, where the body itself is broken. 00:34:04.640 --> 00:34:07.680 We are embodied beings, both body and soul. 00:34:07.759 --> 00:34:09.440 So both are interconnected. 00:34:09.599 --> 00:34:11.840 And scripture never minimizes that. 00:34:12.079 --> 00:34:13.599 It calls for compassion. 00:34:13.679 --> 00:34:17.840 So if anyone tries to make every issue a sin issue, they are wrong. 00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:19.679 They must be careful with that. 00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:28.239 But the modern mental health world often treats every struggle of the soul as a disorder of the brain. 00:34:28.400 --> 00:34:31.840 That's not science, friends, that's secular anthropology. 00:34:32.079 --> 00:34:34.000 Just let me just pose a question to you. 00:34:34.159 --> 00:34:37.519 How can you quantify if one's mind is ill? 00:34:37.920 --> 00:34:42.320 Can you run a lab test on your thoughts to see if you're mentally ill? 00:34:42.559 --> 00:34:48.000 What's often happening in the therapeutic world is they're blending the brain with the mind. 00:34:48.320 --> 00:34:50.400 That's a conversation for another day. 00:34:50.480 --> 00:34:52.239 I'm just wanting to give this warning. 00:34:52.320 --> 00:34:54.079 Here, let me give an example. 00:34:54.400 --> 00:35:04.960 Major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder have no definitive medical test, no blood work, no brain scan, no genetic markers. 00:35:05.199 --> 00:35:19.519 What happens is a patient sits down with a therapist, a counselor, psychologist, describes a cluster of behaviors and feelings, and they describe their lived experience, and that professional then says, You are manic depressive. 00:35:19.679 --> 00:35:20.639 You are this. 00:35:21.679 --> 00:35:25.679 Now that's helpful to describe a cluster of behavior patterns. 00:35:25.920 --> 00:35:34.719 But the Bible would describe many cases of depression, not as a disease, but as hopelessness, despair of the soul. 00:35:35.039 --> 00:35:36.960 Go read Psalm 42. 00:35:37.440 --> 00:35:40.719 That brother would have been put on all kinds of antidepressants. 00:35:41.039 --> 00:35:44.079 But what he was struggling with is hoping in God. 00:35:44.400 --> 00:35:49.440 The psalmist didn't need a label, he needs a living God to put his hope in. 00:35:49.760 --> 00:35:57.280 Much of what is called anxiety in our culture, according to the Bible, would be considered fear and sinful unbelief. 00:35:57.760 --> 00:36:02.880