TRIED AND TRUE (5): TEMPTATION’S CHAIN REACTION

(James 1:13-16)
March 3, 2019

Read James 1:13-16 – When I was a boy, I liked to play dominoes – not the
real kind, but the kind where you set them on end all in a row, then knock the
first one setting off a chain reaction of destruction. The same principle moves
neutrons from one atom to another to trigger a devastating nuclear explosion.
Well, this morning Jas introduces us to a different kind of chain reaction, but
one that is equally devastating. It is the path from temptation to death that
results when we fail the tests the Lord allows in our lives. When we allow
trials to become occasions of temptation, a devastating chain reaction ensues.

It doesn’t look like that at the start. No one yields to temptation thinking it will
lead to calamity. It looks like it will be fun, pleasurable, exciting, productive.
But it always ends in tears. The chain reaction can be stopped at any point –
by repentance, but if not aborted, the end result will be destructive. So, who is
to blame for starting this chain reaction, and how does it work?

I. It’s Not God’s Fault

When things go wrong, we all want to cast blame away from us -- never more
so than when we fall into temptation. As things begin to go south out comes
the blame detector: “Yes, I did it, but; Yes I gave in, but; Yes – but!” I did it,
but someone else is to blame. Will Rogers once remarked that there are two
eras in American history – “the passing of the buffalo and the passing of the
buck.” And way too often, directly or indirectly, we pass that buck straight to
our Creator. Our motto might be, “To err is human; to blame it on God is
even more human.” When we do that, we’re just the last in a long line.

In Eden God asks Adam, “Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded
you not to eat?” (Gen 3:11). “Have you failed the test, Adam?” There was
only one right and honest answer: Yes – period! Instead God got “Yes, but!”
Gen 3:12: “The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she
gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” “Yes, I ate, but it was her fault for giving
it to me, and it was your fault for giving her to me.”

We do this constantly. “Yes, I flew off the handle, but it’s this temper –
which you gave me.” “Yes, I gave in to my besetting sin again, but you have
not taken it away despite my asking countless times.” “Yes, I cheated on my
taxes, but if you’d just get me a decent job!” We’re expert finger-pointers,
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often right at God. How could you take my partner? Why don’t you save my
children? Why can’t my husband be like her husband? Why cancer? How can
you treat me this way? Robert Burns, the Scottish poet wrote, “By passion
driven: But yet the light that led astray was light from heaven.” It’s your
fault, God. Own up to it. You made me this way. I couldn’t help it! Prov 19:3)
When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the LORD.”

But Jas is wagging his finger and saying, “Tch, tch – you may not go there.
That is the one place you cannot go.” 13) 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.” God is far above evil. He could never be tempted by
it; and He’d never tempt you. You don’t know God if you see that differently.

You say, “But wait. God did tempt people. How about David?” II Sam
24:1b: “Go, number Israel and Judah.” He tempted him to number the people
and then penalized him when he did it. God led him right into it! But check
the parallel account in I Chron 21:1: “Then Satan stood against Israel and
incited David to number Israel.” Just like God allowed Satan to afflict Job, He
allowed him to tempt David. But God’s intent was David pass, not fail. He
even sent Joab to warn David. Every trial involves Satan initiating evil to
bring us down, but God allowing it to build us up. Just like Jesus was led by
the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan – but tested by God.
David failed; Jesus passed. But God had the best in mind for both!

Tests always come with this promise: “I Cor 10:13, “No temptation has
overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let
you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also
provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” It’s never God’s
fault; and it’s never too much – however much it may sometimes seem so.

Kent Hughes tells of a young wife who came to Christ at a low point in her
life. At first she grew rapidly. But her hus didn’t follow suit. She eventually
sought counseling. Instead of help, she got professional seduction. Sympathy
turned into illicit desire and adultery followed by rejection and misery. When
she came to Kent she was filled with rage and bitterness – not at herself and
not even the man. She raged at God: “I asked God to lead me to the right
person, and he led me to this man. It is God’s fault! He is to blame for what
happened.” That led to years of misery and estrangement from God. But she
eventually repented, and a decade later, her hus came to Christ as well.

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Perhaps some of us need to repent as well. Blaming God can only lead to a
bitter, wasted life. He would never tempt us and never tests above what we are
able. It’s not His fault. Hard as it may be to see, His intent is always loving.

II. It’s My Fault

So, if not God’s, then whose? Satan’s? “The Devil made me do it?” Well, he
does create tempting situations, right? But here’s a little known truth. Satan
can’t make you sin. God hasn’t given him that power. He can make a
tempting environment. But he can’t make you sin. Like a basketball coach
recruiting a player. He can make the opportunity as attractive as possible. But
he can’t make the guy sign. Satan’s power ends at your will.

So, if God won’t make you sin and Satan can’t make you sin, then who?
Only one person left, isn’t there? Me, that’s who. Jas says 16 Do not be
deceived, my beloved brothers,” meaning “Don’t think this is someone else’s
fault. It’s not. You may be sorely tempted, but the chain reaction that ends
in death is your responsibility.” So let’s look at that 4-fold chain from
temptation to termination. It’s a slippery slope, but we are responsible for
how we navigate it, from Desire, to Deception, to Disobedience to Death.

A. Desire -- 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and

enticed by his own desire.” Now – a surprise. See the word “desire”? Looks
evil, like sin. But guess what? It’s not. The word is ἐπιθυμία, and it means a
longing or craving. But it is a neutral word. Desire is not inherently wrong.
Jesus says in Lu 22:15, “I have earnestly desired (literally desired with desire)
to eat this Passover with you.” Was that desire wrong? No. Paul says in I
Thess 2:17b, “we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see
you face to face.” Was the desire wrong? No – it was neutral.

The desire to eat, to sleep, to produce, to reproduce, to enjoy, to succeed, to

love, to be loved – all desires given us by our Creator. Desire itself is not
wrong. Even in this context, sin doesn’t appear until v. 15. Desire can lead to
sin. It is the first link in temptation’s chain, but desire itself is not wrong.

With desire, God also gave boundaries, a user’s guide! So the desire to eat is
good, but overuse, gluttony, is bad. The desire for justice is good; but not if
we exercise God’s prerogative to exact vengeance. Desire can enhance our
lives, but only inside God’s boundaries. Thus, every desire is both a test and a
temptation. Will we obey His rules or make our own – like Adam?
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An example. Sexuality is a God-given desire, intended for our pleasure and
God’s glory within marriage. But it is also an occasion for temptation. A
seductive image on a billboard, magazine or TV invokes a natural desire. Is it
sin yet? Not yet! But if we linger on the image, mentally massaging it, it
quickly becomes sin. It is not the first glance that is wrong, but the 2nd and
3rd. Job said, “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at
(study, linger over) a virgin?” (Job 31:1). Desire’s not the problem; it’s what
we do with the desire – use it according to God’s design, or breech the
boundaries! Was it a sin that David saw Bathsheba? No, but when he lingered
over the image it soon became sin – desire taken outside God’s boundaries.

B. Deception -- 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and

enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to
sin.” Desire conceives. Okay. But it takes two to conceive. So what has desire
gotten entangled with? Ans: the “old self” or the “flesh” -- the “heart that is
deceitful above all things.” That’s why they are so often called “fleshly
desires.” Neutral desire has gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd. And flesh
and desire together are a deadly mix. That is the combination that baits the
hook and lures us, seduces us away from God toward disobedience.

The “old me” wants to take innocent desires and turn them into “uberdesires”
-- something good made into something ultimate. When David saw Bathsheba,
and then kept looking, flesh mingled with his desire and conceived sin.
Normal desire became uberdesire! God faded into the background. Now he
couldn’t live without Bathsheba. His existence was ruled by one thing – the
desire for the forbidden. That desire lured him into sin, just like a fisherman or
hunter entices his prey into a trap with the best food ever!

So flesh plus desire seduces me. Now I must decide. Will I walk by the Spirit,
or take the bait? Gal 5:16: But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not
gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the
Spirit.” Or I Pet 2:11: “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain
from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” He doesn’t
mean, don’t eat, don’t sleep, don’t have ambition, don’t have pleasure, don’t
have sex, don’t play sports, don’t pursue hobbies. What he means is, do all of
those things as directed by the Spirit, not as overdirected by the flesh. The
Spirit follows God’s boundaries. The flesh strays far afield creating idols.
When desire and the Spirit mingle, they conceive Godly life-enhancing fruit.
When desire and the flesh mingle, they conceive sin and destruction.

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Know this: When flesh and desire mingle, deception is involved – always.
That’s why v. 16, “Do not be deceived my beloved brothers.” Fleshly desires -
- God-given gifts which have been turned into uberdesire by the flesh – will
never appear as sin. Fleshly desire never says, “Hey, Bub, let’s go see how
deep into sin we can go today.” Won’t happen. Sin conceived looks great!
The tree in Eden looked great – “a delight to the eyes” (Gen 3:6). Bathsehba
looked great. Sodom appealed to Lot’s ambition. It looked great. Lying to
look spiritual looked great to Ananias and Sapphira. But it was all a big
deception. Sin began in the heart when natural desire was perverted by the
flesh, and turned into bait to seduce someone into sin. Just like with us!

C. Disobedience – V. 15: “Then desire when it has conceived (or

uberdesire) gives birth to sin.” The chain reaction is in full swing. Desire
mixed with flesh, the hook was set, and temptation became sin. And at the
core of it all is self-deception. We actually believe we’ll be happier by stealing
the idea, getting even, throwing temper tantrums, engaging in lustful thoughts,
putting hobbies over ministry or whatever else has overtaken us.

But we’re deceived, like the woman whose car wouldn’t sell because it had
340,000 miles. A friend suggested a mechanic who turned the odometer back
to 40,000 miles. A week later she asked, “Did you sell your car?” The woman
answered, “Why should I? It only has 40,000 miles on it.” Self-deceived!
Exactly what we do when we cave to the seductions of fleshly desire. We only
kid ourselves when we buy the lie. Calvin: “The human heart has so many
crannies where vanity hides, so many holes where falsehood lurks, is so
decked out with deceiving hypocrisy, that it often dupes itself.” Jas agrees.
When desire has conceived, it brings forth sin, and we spin it as a good thing!

D. Death – Unfortunately sin is not the end of the line. 15b: “and sin
when it is fully grown brings for death.” This is the ultimate destination of all
disobedience. What looks so good, deceptively attractive – covers a skull and
crossbones. “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23), eternal separation from
God for the unbeliever. So at one level, James is warning, for those who live a
lifestyle devoted to self, the deception may be so deep that tho they think they
are saved, they really are not. Their mouth says one thing – their pattern of life
says another. It’s a dire and serious warning. And that’s his ultimate concern.

But even for a believer, sin is deadly. Paul warned the Corinthians that “many
of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (I Cor 11:30). Why? They
abused the Lord’s Table with unrepentant hearts. Sin can lead to physical
death. It also separates believer from fellowship with God. I Jn 1:6: “If we
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say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not
practice the truth.” Disobedience destroys fellowship. Paul advises widows to
set their hope in God. But he says to the self-absorbed: I Tim 5:6, “but she
who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives.” She is living a wasted life.
Sin has killed all the good God wants to pour out on his children. Lot was a
believer who was dead while he lived. Sin always looks good. Why else do it?
But, in the end, it leaves a wake of destruction and waste.

Conc – So what have we learned? 1) Everything God allows into our lives is
intended for good, not evil. He alone can be trusted. 2) Sin is always the
perversion of a healthy desire turned by the flesh into an ultimate desire which
has seduced us. 3) Sin always looks good. No one sins for the sake of
offending God. 4) Sin always destroys. The chain is Desire, which mingles
with flesh to produce Deception, leading to Disobedience and finally Death.

Remember the ring in Lord of the Rings? Even knowing the danger in
advance, it had an almost irresistible beauty. It seduced. But the moment a
person put the ring on his finger, the ring set out to dominate and destroy him.
It had a mind set on destruction. Same with the chain of seduction of sin.

The good news is, the chain can be broken at any point. How? Confession.
Agreeing with God and turning away. I Jn 1:9: “But if we confess our sin, he
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.” Repentance breaks the chain of seduction. During the
1930’s as the European democracies drifted – seduced by the idea that just one
more piece of land would appease Hitler – Churchill used to quote Alexander
the Great: “The Persians would always be slaves because they did not know
how to pronounce the word No.” Look at Jesus. Is He not more wonderful
and long-lasting than the pleasure of sin? All it takes to break the chain is to
say No to the seduction and Yes to Him. No time like now. Let’s pray.