The Parent and Offspring of Temptation | Sermon 02/27/2022

James 1:13-15

James transitions from a series on trials into temptation. Every trial is righteously given by God to cause the believer to endure and mature in Christ but in the trials can be temptation to sin. No one is to say that the temptation to sin in their circumstance is an inclination from God. God is perfectly holy, in Him there is no darkness at all, His eyes are too pure to approve evil, and Jesus says only God is good.

James clarifies then that because God is not evil or tempted by it, it would go against His nature to tempt anyone to evil. We can’t say either that “the devil made me do it.” The only true victim when it comes to sin is God. Not us. We are like a fish that sees the temptation as bait, we take the bite, and are reeled in and caught by our own lust.

When temptation and our internal lusts mate they conceive and deliver sin. When someone allows sin to become “full-grown” then death is conceived and delivered. In this warning, Christians ought to run to the One who was tempted in all ways and yet without sin: our sympathizing High Priest, Jesus Christ.