with me, if you would, to the book of James, chapter 1. I'll begin reading in verse 13. We'll read down to verse 20 for now. Let no man say, think, or imagine, When he is tempted, I am tempted of God. Now, the temptation he's speaking of here, as we'll see, is not the same temptation he's speaking about in verse 12, where he said, Blessed is the man that endureth temptation. That temptation in verse 12, as well as in verses 1 to 7 or 8, which we've already looked at, is a trying, a testing. The temptation he's beginning to speak about now in verse 13 is the temptation to sin. Let no man say when he is tempted to sin, I am tempted of God, for God cannot. People say there's nothing God cannot do. Well, there is something God cannot do. God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. And when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Do not err in what he just said. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning. of His own will begat He us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Let us pray. Our Father, we pray that You would give us understanding tonight that only You can give us. We pray that the Spirit of God would be our teacher and our guide. I pray that we would be humbled before Thy Word and pray that, God, we would even find ourselves trembling before it, that You might dwell with us tonight in a very special way. Father, the subject that we're dealing with tonight is very serious. And, Lord, we do pray that You would honestly and truly, Lord, help us to fully grasp what Thy Word says on this subject of temptation and the origin of temptation. We pray that, God, You would give us enlightenment And Lord, in that enlightenment, I pray that it would transform our lives. Father, that we wouldn't just profess to know the truth, but Father, we would be able to live it in the power of Thy Spirit. Lord, we wish so much to know how we can overcome that temptation to sin. Father, we can't do that without divine enlightenment and knowledge, and therefore, we are dependent tonight upon You to help us, grant us that spiritual illumination, that spiritual knowledge that we might be able to fight better against that inward temptation to sin, that place, that origin of sin which lieth within our own bosoms. Father, we pray that You'd be honored and glorified in all that we say and do tonight. For it's in Christ's name we pray, Amen. And amen. It was Eliaphaz who declared in the book of Job chapter 5 and in verse 7 that man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. He's born to it. It's in his nature. Job later in chapter 14 verse 1 of the same book, bearing witness to such a solemn and yet divine truth, said, man that is born of a woman is a few days and full of trouble. The great depth of man's depravity and sinfulness is a divine truth which is not only declared throughout Scripture, but even evidenced and manifested throughout the history of mankind. God's Word is clear. Man is born in total depravity. He's depraved from the foot to the head. All our righteousness are as filthy rags. The Scripture is not silent when it comes to describing the nature of sinful man. He's sinful. He's wicked. He's depraved. From that very first day, When Cain slew his brother because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous, man's great depravity has soiled and stained the pathway of all mankind as a testimony to the depth of his great sinfulness. And yet, beloved, the greatest evidence or testimony of man's total depravity for those, if you ever speak to one who says, I don't believe that man is totally depraved, He's got a little bit of good in him. Beloved, the greatest evidence or testimony to man's total depravity will never be seen in one simple instance, nor in all the accounts of sinful actions of every kingdom and every sinner since the beginning of time. That is not evidence enough of man's depravity, though it shows us how depraved he is. That is not the greatest evidence of man's depravity. You want to see the evidence of man's total depravity? Look to Calvary. The greatest evidence or testimony to man's great depravity and sinfulness, beloved, can only truly be seen and realized by the great sacrifice it required to redeem sinful man from that depravity. I love that song, Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted. I love that verse. Ye who think of sin but lightly, nor suppose the evil great, here may view its nature rightly. Here its guilt may estimate. Mark the sacrifice appointed. See who bears the awful load, tis the Word, the Lord's anointed Son of Man and Son of God. That is the greatest evidence to man's total depravity. So those who don't believe in total depravity don't see Calvary right. It's amazing. There exists amongst many professing believers today a great misconception and gullibleness concerning the destructive and crippling power of sin. Anyone who's acquainted themselves with church history as well as the doctrine of our holy Christian faith will realize we live in a generation that is really very gullible when it comes to knowledge of sin and its destructive power. Nowadays, when many begin reading our forefathers, the reformers and the Puritans, and even Scripture itself, they'll look back and say, well, they were very legalistic. They didn't understand God's all-sufficient grace, and so therefore, they were very legalistic. this constant exhortation to examine oneself and to really search one's heart. We don't have to do that in the age of grace. God's thrown them as far as the East as the West. There's a gullibleness to the destructive and crippling power of sin, even amongst those who profess to be believers. In the very first chapter of his excellent book, Holiness, if you've never read it, I encourage you to read it. If you have, read it again. J.C. Ryle declares this. He said, He that wishes to attain right views about Christian holiness must begin by examining the vast and solemn subject of sin. A mistake here is most mischievous. Wrong views about holiness are greatly traceable to wrong views about human corruption. The plain truth, he says in closing, the plain truth is that a right knowledge of sin lies at the root of all saving Christianity. Very well put. That's why James, when he's dealing with this book about if you have faith, where is your works? This doctrine of the origin of sin or its temptation is vital for us to live that life of faith which produces works. And so it fits perfectly in with this glorious and wonderful book. Let no man say, verse 13, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man, but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed." Having in the first verses of this same chapter declared the blessings and benefits of the believer's faith being tested by divers' temptations or divers' testings, James would now begin to explain that though the trying of our faith is of God, the testing of our faith is of God, there is a temptation which is evil and has its origin in man himself and not of God. Because I'm sure that question came up. Well, if God is testing our faith by divers temptations, could God possibly also tempt us with evil? James says that's absolutely impossible. There's a lot of things. There's almost anything God cannot do, but He said God cannot tempt any man with evil. And I'm sure that arose in their mind under severe temptation. They begin thinking or doing maybe sinful or evil things, and they begin to think, well, if God wouldn't have tested my faith, maybe I wouldn't have responded that way, so maybe God is the fault for me falling into sin because He tempted me. And James said, no, no, don't even let that come into your imagination. Don't even let it come close to your imagination. God cannot. So if anybody asks you that there's nothing God cannot do, take another James and say, yes, there is. God cannot tempt with evil. He cannot. For although God is sovereign, all-knowing, and infinitely wise, He is not, nor ever has been, nor ever will be, the author, source, or enticer of anything evil, wicked, or sinful. Never. That's why I've often, as a pastor, exhorted believers saying, if you have a sinful, wicked thought towards a brother, don't you say, God gave you that, because that could never come from God. He would never give you that. He doesn't entice. to evil thoughts. I don't know about you, but how many believers have we seen, maybe even ourselves, who have justified sinful thoughts or accusations towards a brother or sister thinking God is justifying me or allowing me to do that because of the sinfulness of my brother? Nothing evil can ever come from God. Nothing evil. It can never be traced back to God. It can only be traced back to our own wicked depravity. I like how he says this in verses 13 and 14. He says, verse 13, let no man, he excludes everyone, let no man say, think or even imagine that God could ever be accused of such an evil thing. Let no man. But verse 14, he includes every man. But every man is tempted. But every man is tempted. He here brings the entire human race, saved and lost, into the picture. He doesn't exclude anybody. Saved and lost. He says, every man. And it's a general statement. It's not just, well, that must be to the lost. No, He says every man is tempted. You see, I hope and pray that we all believe that even though we are saved by grace and we're being sanctified, And God is working through us with His truth and the Holy Spirit, and we're being conformed more and more into His image that we're still struggling with sin in our members. Colossians chapter 3, Ephesians chapter 4. The Bible says we need to mortify the sin in our members. So there's still a struggle in the believer. Even after salvation, there's still a struggle in the believer to fight and mortify sin. So James says, every man is tempted. The lost and the saved. You're tempted because of the origin of sin which lieth in your bosom. You were by nature depraved. And even after salvation, the remnants of that depravity are still evident, still present in your members. And therefore, if you're tempted to sin, even as a Christian, it's not God, it's you. It arises out of your very own sinful nature. Beloved, ignorance of this great and yet terrible truth has been the cause of many heartaches and sorrows amongst God's children, and I believe has greatly weakened and spiritually crippled many churches. It's amazing when you talk to believers today about sinful acts or actions amongst believers. It's almost as though This generation believes the way to get rid of sinful act or sinful actions or sinful behavior is to simply cover them with love as though they weren't there. Sweep them under the carpet. Pretend they never happened. God's Word never does that with sin. He never swept Achan's sin under the carpet. Ten spies caused a whole nation of Israel to apostatize in the wilderness. He never excuses sin, and yet we live in a generation now to where we want to just kind of do away with sin, cover it up like it never happened, and we want to say love has replaced the truth. We can't do that. It's loving in the truth. Sin has its ramifications. There's such a gullibleness today in believers about sin. in their own lives and sin in others. I think that's why the church has been greatly weakened. Well, we feel sorry for the God. We have pity for the God. We have compassion. Those things are good and those things are very, very commendable. Yet, if sinful actions and deeds are involved, beloved, you can't ignore that. It still has to be dealt biblically. Amen? Let no man think when he's tempted. But every man is tempted. Watch the progression here. I don't want to get ahead of myself and I want to bring this to a close here, but watch the progression. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived... See, it's being birthed. It was inward. Now it's coming out. It bringeth forth sin. It's been conceived. It's been brought out. Now there's sin. Sin has been birthed into the actions. And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. To me, I think that's very crucial and very serious. It's a progressive thing. That's why the Bible teaches us to mortify sin at the very roots. there in the thoughts and the imaginations before they can conceive into sinful actions. And believers don't do that. We don't do that. We think that we have the power and the ability to keep sinful thoughts and behavior inside of ourselves, but beloved, it's too powerful for us if we don't mortify it by the Spirit. It will eventually conceive and bring forth sin, and sin will bring forth spiritual death. That's why I tell Christians all the time, don't ever leave an unresolved issue. I don't care if it has to deal with your husband, your family, the church. If there's something wrong, if there's sin somewhere in there, don't leave it unattended and believe that you can cover it up by pretending it's not there or that it might eventually go away. Sin is too destructive, it's too powerful, it's too crippling. You can't allow that to happen. Drawn away is forcibly compelled. Man, says Job, drinketh iniquity like water. He's drawn away by his lust. That's depraved affections and desires. Jeremiah 17.9, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? So, he's drawn away with what? His lust. And then he's enticed. That's to urge or to lead astray. It's to incite. Beloved, drawn away, lost, enticed, these three evils are always at work in the heart of every man, saint and sinner, and have their origin in the bosom of every human being. Beware of this deadly three. The devil is known as the tempter, and the world may allure us through its pleasures. Yet, beloved, the Bible teaches none of these can compel or force us to sin. But this can compel, thrown away, lust, enticed. You never hear about the devil being able to compel sinners to sin or the world being able to force us to sin. All they do is tempt us. We're compelled, we're forced, we're enticed by that which lieth in our bosom. Remember them old days? I forgot his name, but the devil made me do it. No, the devil can't make anybody do anything. He can tempt. This temptation lies in ourselves. And through our own lust, James says, we are drawn away and enticed to sin. I like what the old Puritan said. He said, if there was no devil to tempt us, there's enough sin in our own bosoms to cause us to fall. You don't need the devil to cause you to fall. I don't need Satan to cause me to fall. There's enough temptation in my own wicked heart. You see, believers today put too much confidence in themselves. We need to learn to despise ourselves and have no confidence in the flesh. But we think too highly of ourselves, of our opinions, our convictions. If they're sinful or not, that's not the question. Be careful, beloved. James is teaching us, and we won't get into it much further tonight, but James is teaching us that if we're ever going to fight against this origin of sin, we have to do it while it's in its roots and not let it conceive. That's why he said he's drawn away of his own lust and enticed. A believer knows when he's being enticed by his lust. And this isn't just basically to do with sexual pleasures or fleshly pleasures, but enticed can also be to think a wrong thought against a brother or sister, to do a wrong action, maybe to be angry or sinful or wrathful. It involves every sinful act. Drawn away. Lust. Enticed. Bring forth. Finished. Death. You see the progress of this evil temptation? It is progressive, gradual, and by degrees. Beloved, it first enters the affections, imaginations, and thoughts. The world and the devil tempt us through our own lust. So, I don't want to get ahead of myself, but we'll look at it more next week. But if we could mortify our lust, we've got half the battle won. Because that's what the devil uses to tempt us. That's what the world's pleasures use to draw us away, is our own lust. If we can learn to mortify them, half the battle is won. I'm not going to say it's going to ever be won in this present life because sin will always be present on our members, but we're going to be more victorious and we won't find ourselves falling into temptation as often. A true believer knows that. He grows in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So when he notices in his heart, in his imaginations, in his thoughts, in his affections, that sin is beginning to rise, oh, he immediately goes to the throne of grace and like David says, oh God, keep me from presumptuous sins. Purge me. Search my heart and know me. Amen? A believer loves that kind of exercise. He doesn't abhor it. He loves it because he knows that's the only way he can mortify that in him which he hates desperately. That's a song that says, I hate that sin that drew thee from my breast or something like that. Remember that song? It's an old hymn song. I hate that sin that caused you to flee from my breast or something like that. It's an old hymn, I think, of Wesley's, if I'm not mistaken. I might be mistaken. But a believer loves to exercise himself in such self-examination because he despises and hates sin as much as Christ. Paul says, I have no confidence in the flesh. Therefore, beloved, we have to learn to deal with sin in its womb. in its beginning stages. And if you want to have some homework in that until next week, read Romans 6, 12 to 23, where he talks about, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof. Romans 6, 12 to 23 would be a good one to read tonight before you go to bed in light of what we've heard. Paul's speaking the same language as James. Amen? Neither yield ye yourselves. See that? He's talking about us. Let no man say that when he's tempted. Let no man say when he's tempted. He's tempted of God. Being made free from sin and the servants of righteousness. I love how Paul argues that wonderful truth in Romans chapter 6. And we'll look at that more next week. Beloved, James is laying a foundation down here, how we by faith, the faith he's talking about that proves itself by works, that faith enables us to mortify those evil, wicked temptations in the very beginnings, in the very womb which is in our heart. But never think God tempts us to evil. He can never do that. Never will. Never has. God cannot tempt with evil. It's a humbling thought to realize that the origin of my sinful, wicked temptations lies within my own bosom. This is what Martin Luther said when he said, there is within me someone worse than the devil, the pope himself, and all his demon cardinals. He said it's called self. If we know that, God will give us grace to fight it. The battle is going to be won in our hearts. Amen? It's going to be lost or won in our hearts. There's where we have to battle those lusts. Don't let them conceive and bring forth. Because if they do, they can spiritually kill us and cripple us. May God give us grace to learn this evermore. Amen. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank You again for Thy Word. And Lord, tonight I know has just been an introduction, a foretaste of what we're beginning to look at. And I pray that, God, You would continue to give us wisdom and understanding in this most valuable truth. It's very humbling to realize that Lord, with inside of our hearts we know we have true sovereign grace working in us, the Spirit of God sanctifying us, and yet at the same time, Father, we know that our hearts are desperately wicked. How true John Bunyan was in his story of holy war. Father, we pray that, God, You would help us to learn this. Give us that spiritual illumination and knowledge that we would be able by Your Word and by faith and by Thy Spirit to mortify the deeds of our body while they're yet in the womb. Father, give us that sensitivity, we pray, and help us, Father, that we would encourage and provoke one another to love and to good works and to this mighty exercise. Father, I pray that You'd bless those who've come out tonight. I know we're few in number, but Father, I pray that You'd bless them for their faithfulness. Bless them with this truth. I pray that You'd give them the victory over this temptation to sin. God, help us all, we pray. For it's in Christ's name we ask these things. Amen.