Would you bow with me this morning for a word of prayer? Father, we thank you for this incredible privilege that we have now to open your precious word. And we ask as always, Father, that your teacher, your Holy Spirit would be our teacher and our guide. Show us what you have for us today and change our lives with the truth of your word. And we'll thank you and we'll praise you for it. Father, we love you in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, we're on a little detour. We've been on a little detour from our study in 1 John. And this will be our last morning on that detour, by the way. We're going to go back to 1 John, the next Lord's Day. But here's where the detour began. John said at the beginning of 1 John 2 and verse 1, My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. That is one of John's clearly stated purposes for writing this letter. My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And because that's such a huge subject, because it's so important, we stopped right there for a few weeks to talk a little bit more about this most important subject of personal holiness. We've been looking at some of the provisions. And I told you going into this that it wouldn't be comprehensive. It's a huge subject. But we've been looking at just some of the provisions that God has made for our victory over sin. Paul exhorted us two weeks ago Romans chapter 8, to put to death the deeds of the body in the Spirit's power. We looked at those verses there in verses 12 and 13 in Romans chapter 8. Last week, Paul taught us the truth about temptation in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. This morning now, we're going to learn the truth about the corresponding subject of lust from James. And let me begin on this by reminding you again, we've talked about this before, but I need to remind you again as we begin this morning of where the holiness problem is and where the holiness problem isn't. A Christian is a brand new spiritual creation and there is no holiness problem at the level of that newly created spiritual you. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 24. But that newly created spiritual you still lives in the same old and yet unredeemed human body of flesh that the old you used to live in before the old you was crucified with Christ. And we've looked at those verses in Romans chapter six. And what I want to remind you of again this morning is this, that unredeemed human body of flesh is always, always, always the problem. when it comes to this important matter of personal holiness, as Paul makes so clear in Romans chapter 7. Just study that chapter, particularly the last part of Romans chapter 7, and you will see where the problem is. Paul says over and over again, the problem is my flesh. The problem is my body. The problem is my members. And so we can understand it this way. The world wouldn't be a problem for you And even the devil and his demons wouldn't be a problem for us if it weren't for our unredeemed human flesh that is so attracted to all the stuff they have to offer. The flesh is the problem. And now that we've identified the problem, let me say this. When we talk about the flesh as the Christian's enemy in his pursuit of holiness, we're really talking about two other things. We're talking about temptation and we're talking about lust. People, I don't know how to emphasize this enough for you with words. It is absolutely critical for us to understand how these two things work. Temptation and lust. If we are going to be live in victory over sin. We talked about the subject of temptation at length last week. This morning now I want to talk about the corresponding subject of lust. Temptation is the motivation to sin or incentive to sin, if you will, that comes from the outside. Lust, now, is that desire for the forbidden that resides within your flesh and makes you want to respond to the temptation. And in fact, if there were no lust, there could be no temptation. And so let's explore now what the Bible says about the subject of lust. And I think the best place to begin on that is with a definition of the word. Lust translates the Greek word epithumia, which in its most basic sense simply refers to a strong desire. That's what the word means. And just like it was last week with the word translated temptation, I want you to understand this morning that this word also, in and of itself, is a neutral word. Epithumia communicates nothing, either positive or negative, in and of itself. The word simply means desire. So what is it that determines whether it's positive or negative? It's the context. The context determines whether we're talking about a strong desire for something good or a strong desire for something evil. And then I would also say this, generally the various English words used to translate the Greek words for temptation and lust do communicate, at least to some degree, whether it's going to be positive or negative. In a positive context, for example, the Greek word for temptation is generally translated trial or test. We talked about that last week. Whereas when it's used in a negative context, That same word is generally translated with the English word temptation. Now, as we're talking about lust this morning, the same thing is true. Epithumia is generally translated simply as desire. And when it's used in positive context, it's translated lust when it's used in a negative context. Let me just give you a couple examples very quickly before we go on. First of all, the positive way that this word is used. Jesus said to his disciples in Luke 22 15, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. That's, of course, a perfect example of how this Greek word is being used in a positive way. I'll give you another example on the positive side here. And that's what Paul said in Philippians 1.23. Paul said, but I am hard pressed from both directions having the desire, epithumia, to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better. And of course, there's nothing wrong going on there at all. That's a strong desire that is good that Paul had and it does translate the same Greek word. I want you to understand now that that's not the kind of desire that is an enemy to your holiness. The kind of strong desire that we want to talk about and understand this morning is the kind that is generally translated with the English word lust. I counted the word translated lust 21 times in the New Testament Every time it's translated lust, it's being used in a negative context. It's talking about a strong desire for evil. And then there's one other clarification that I really think I need to make with regard to the definition of this word or the biblical meaning of this word, and it has to do with how we normally use this word in our culture. In our culture, the word lust has become a word that is generally always associated with sexual sin. Isn't that the case? As soon as you hear the word lust, what comes to mind immediately, we think of sexual sin. And so what I want to say this morning is this, although that certainly would be included in the meaning of this word, as we study it now this morning, we need to understand that the Bible uses this word in a much broader sense than just sexual sin. When the Bible talks about lust, it is talking about a strong desire for anything in the category of evil, including, of course, sexual sin. I did also find two occurrences in Romans 7 where this same Greek word is translated coveting, one in 2 Timothy 3 where it's translated impulses, and one in Revelation 18 where it's translated long for. So there's kind of a comprehensive understanding of what this word means and how it's used in the Word of God. So let's begin to understand lust now as a strong desire, as an impulse, a strong impulse that can go in either a positive or a negative direction. The focus of our study this morning is going to be on those negative longings, those negative impulses, those negative desires. We want to understand this morning And why do we want to understand this? Because we want to be holy. For I am holy. We want to obey that command. We want to understand how lust works through the vehicle of our unredeemed flesh as an obstacle or as an enemy to our pursuit of holiness. You already know that the human part of you is not yet redeemed. And now James is going to tell us this morning that in that humanness package of stuff is this ugly thing that the Bible calls lust. Deep within your humanness, you have a strong desire for what is forbidden. Are you aware of that there in you? I'm aware of that in me. In your humanness, in your flesh, you have a craving for what God says you're not supposed to have. That craving is what temptation makes its appeal to. And the existence of that craving that is there within you and within me, of course, is why temptation is often so successful in getting us to sin. And what we're going to do this morning is understand what the Bible teaches on this subject of lust. And just like there was a key passage on the subject of temptation, so there is also a key passage on this subject of lust. If you haven't already, I invite you to take your Bibles this morning and turn to James chapter 1. And I'm going to begin by reading our text. It's James chapter 1. I will begin reading in verse 12 down through verse 15. James chapter 1, verses 12 to 15. Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial, for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord 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 by evil. and he himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Verse 15, then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. There are two main points on your outline of these verses for this morning. In verses 12 and 13, James tells us where temptation never comes from. And then in verses 14 and 15, he goes on to tell us where temptation does come from and exactly how it works. If temptation, let me start out by asking this question. If temptation doesn't come from God, where does it come from? What is the source of temptation? Why does temptation exist? That's the question that James will answer for us in verses 14 and 15. And his answer is this. The source of temptation is, underline these three words, the source of temptation is your own lust. Your own lust. That's right. Temptation would not even exist if it weren't for your own lust. The bathing Bathsheba in and of herself was not a temptation. She was simply a woman taking a bath. The situation became a temptation only when it intersected with what? David's own lust. The problem was this ugly thing called lust that resided right there at the very core of David's humanness. And I would remind you this morning that it resides right there at the core of my humanness and it resides right there at the very core of your humanness. You need to know it's there and you need to know how it works if you want to be victorious over sin. And that's why I'm so excited about what I have to share with you this morning. We're going to get the full scoop this morning, people, on how this ugly thing works in verses 14 and 15. James is going to tell us exactly how our lust responds to outside things, turning them into temptations that ultimately lead to sin and death. Let me tell you what, if we can understand this, we are a long ways down the road toward victory, aren't we? If we can understand how this thing works and stop it at the earliest possible stage, and in fact, I have to tell you that right now, before we even get there, to study the details of this, the key to victory is in stopping this process, this progression, at the earliest possible stage. The further you let it progress, the harder it gets to stop. And we're going to talk about that more when we get there, but for now I want to back up. I want to take you back for a closer look at the first two verses in this paragraph, where James tells us, in no uncertain terms, mark this and mark it well. Temptation never, never, ever, ever, ever, never comes from God. But before he even says that, notice that in verse 12, we get a promise. This whole paragraph that clearly defines the source of every temptation and outlines the lust response in detail, starts out with this promise. Look at it with me again in verse 12. Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial, for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life. which the Lord has promised to those who love him. Not to everyone, but to those who love him. The word trial here is the noun form of the same Greek word that is translated tempted in verse 13. And to go back to something that's been said before, from God's perspective, this Greek word means trial or test. always with the goal of making you better than you were before. Yes, God does allow these situations in your life that He knows do have the potential of making you fall. But please understand that that is never His goal in allowing them or even in some cases sending them. His goal according to verse 12, is clearly that it would be a trial or a test that you would pass, that you would persevere. And then just look at the great words in this verse that describe what God has in mind for you when you do persevere in a trial. Blessed, approved, and crown of life. To be blessed Zodiata, he says in his lexicon, is to possess the favor of God. What could be better than that? Than to possess the favor of God. It's being in that state that's marked by fullness from God. To be approved translates a word that was used to describe metals without alloy. The refining process had already taken place. The heat had been applied, the bad stuff had been removed, and now all you had left was the good stuff, the genuine metal. And so when you persevere a trial, you come out, James says, like refined metal, tested and approved before God. And finally, James says, the end result of this whole thing for you will be the crown of life. Now, I'm not going to stop here to do a study on crowns, other than to say that most commentators agree that this phrase would be better translated, the crown which is life. This crown is spiritual life itself, the very life of God, which is eternal life. And so persevering trials then is yet one more thing for you that will affirm the genuineness of your salvation. And so before he even gets into the subject of temptations and where they come from and how lust works and all of that, James makes it very clear that from God's perspective, and we talked about this last week, but James says it again, he makes it very clear that from God's perspective these aren't all trials that he either initiates or allows for the sole purpose of blessing you, approving you, and giving you the crown of life. That's God's perspective on all of these tests and all of these trials. And with that perspective in place now, let's go on to verse 13, where James tells us, in no uncertain terms, where temptations never come from. Never! Never means never. Let no one say when he is tempted, verse 13, I am being tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself does not tempt anyone. Why does James find it so necessary to make such an emphatic statement like that at the beginning of this paragraph on temptation? And last, I'll tell you why. He makes this emphatic statement here because he knows where every human being will eventually find himself after the true consequences of a sin committed finally hit home. And you know where that is? Blaming someone else. Blaming something else. Blaming someone else. Until finally there is no one left to blame but God himself. Remember what happened when God confronted Adam in the garden? Adam said it was the woman's fault. And when God confronted the woman, the woman said it was the serpent's fault. James makes this emphatic statement, people. because he knows how the human deal works. He knows that when we are confronted with our sin and its consequences, we are always going to try to pass the blame. And he also knows that when the blame passing has reached its ultimate end, that God is going to be the one at fault. Adam was ultimately blaming God by implication, wasn't he? The woman made me do it, God, and you're the one that gave me that woman. Have you ever heard yourself Blame God for a sin that you've committed. And I don't necessarily mean out loud. What I'm talking about are those conversations that you have with yourself in the privacy of your own mind. Have you ever thought things like this after you have committed a sin? If God had only stopped this or that or him or her, I wouldn't have done this or that or the other thing. Or if God knows everything, then He knew that I'd sin when this happened, so He should have stopped that from happening, or He should have stopped that sooner. Or, I prayed, and God still didn't take away this incredibly strong temptation at work, and so ultimately, it's not my fault. It's your fault, God. I don't know if you've ever had those kinds of perverted conversations with yourself or not. After you've committed a sin, I do know that I have had those kinds of conversations, those blaming God conversations in my own mind. That's the way it works, that's the way we are, and that's why James wants to set the record straight before he goes any further with this subject. Look at it again with me and etch it in your mind so that it will be there the next time you engage yourself with one of those blaming God conversations. Here's the truth of the Word of God. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself does not tempt anyone. Whatever room it is there in your mind where you have these blaming God conversations after you've sinned, write the words of James 1.13 on the wall in that room with great big black letters. James says if you want to deal biblically and effectively with temptation, don't even go where your humanness is going to want to take you because that's going to be down the road that blames God. And I can tell you right now, James says, that that's always going to be the wrong road. Blaming God for your sin is very bad theology. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God. People, there are no exceptions to this. None. There is no temptation anywhere at any time that anyone can ever rightfully blame on God. And why is that? James says, for God cannot be tempted by evil. and He Himself does not tempt anyone." What do we know about God as He's revealed Himself to us in His Word? God is what? God is holy. What does that mean? It means that He is completely removed from evil. God is completely separated from evil. God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. You know, there's kind of an interesting thought here in the first part of that last phrase that I think will help to underscore the main teaching of this passage. But I said earlier that it wasn't the bathing Bathsheba that was the source of David's temptation. It was his own lust. James says here that God cannot be tempted by evil. It's impossible for God to be tempted by evil because God does not have lust in his heart. He does not have that which is the source of all temptation. Evil cannot penetrate the holy nature of God. There is nothing There's absolutely nothing about evil that is attractive to God. It is only and always repulsive to Him. Habakkuk 1.13 says that His eyes are too pure to even look upon evil. God cannot be tempted by evil, James says. And since Jesus Christ is God, let's think about Him for a minute, being there in David's place. Jesus Christ could have been walking on that rooftop instead of David, and He would not have sinned. He could have been exposed to the same outward situation, but it could never have turned into a temptation for him that would have led to sin because he had no lust. And that's people what turns an outward situation into a temptation that leads to sin. There has to be lust before temptation can even exist. And when I say that, I already know what you're thinking. What about the writer of Hebrews? In Hebrews 4.15, doesn't it say, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses. but one who has been tempted in all things as we are yet without sin. Yes, it does say that here. Jesus was tempted. But let me remind you again, tempted just translates that Greek word that we've talked about before that has no negative connotation in and of itself at all. It could just as easily say here that Jesus was tested or tried in all things as we are. And that is absolutely true. Jesus Christ took every test there was to take. As he walked through this world, he was exposed to everything that we are exposed to. But again, I'll remind you what James says in verse 13, God cannot be tempted by evil. And again, the reason for that is his holiness. The reason for that is his absence of that necessary lust. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil. And then James ends verse 13 with this inspired declaration, and he himself does not anyone. He cannot be tempted and he does not tempt. And so mark that as we prepare now to go on to verses 14 and 15. Please understand this morning that temptation never, under any circumstances, never ever comes from God. And let's go on to verses 14 and 15 now. If temptations do not come from God, where do they come from? What is the source of temptation? What is the source of your temptation? What is the source of my temptation? Is it all the evil stuff that's going on in front of us? Is it the immodestly dressed woman that just walked by? Is it the clerk who gave you $20 too much change back? And on and on we could go. with the illustrations? And the answer, in every case, is no. Absolutely no. In and of themselves, none of those things are the source of temptation. They do all have the potential to become temptations, but only when they intersect with what really is the source of temptation, and that is what? Told you earlier. Three words. Your. Own. Lust. James tells us in no uncertain terms that the source of every single one of your temptations and mine is your own lust. and my own lust. You have to understand this, folks, if you're going to live in victory over sin. The real source of temptation is not God or anything else that's going on outside of you. The real source of temptation has to do with something that is going on inside of you. Look again with me, please, at verses 14 and 15. Like the verses that we studied on temptation last week in 1 Corinthians 10, 12, and 13, here we have, folks, nothing less than another two-verse goldmine. I hope you see it as that. Here we have another two-verse goldmine for the subject of personal holiness. 1 Corinthians 10, 12, and 13 are those verses we learned all about temptations from the outside perspective, and how God sovereignly controls them for each one of His children. And I hope you remember all of that, and I hope you keep that fresh in your mind. Now we're going to learn all about temptations from the inside perspective. With just 35 words, James is going to unravel for us the inner workings of every temptation. He's going to show us how. He's going to show us the process. He's going to show us the progressive stages our human lust goes through in the process of taking some outward thing, turning it into a temptation, and then ultimately committing the sin. If you can get this, you will live in victory over sin. Follow as I read verses 14 and 15. Here's the way it works. At the end of verse 13, now again, the flow is like this. It says that God does not tempt anyone, but, verse 14, each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. By way of outline, if you have it there before you, the lust response unfolds in seven progressive stages. Let me list them for you, and then we're going to work down through them together this morning. It all starts out with the look, and then progresses to the lure, the lust, the conception, the birth, the growth, and finally the death. The look, the lure, the lust, the conception, the birth, the growth, and the death. Now let's go back. There's where we're going. Let's go back and understand what James has for us in the word of God this morning. Let's go back and talk about the look. Verse 14, but each one is tempted when he is carried away. That's the phrase I want you to think about. That is phase one in this process of your lust turning some outward situation into a temptation. Temptation begins when you are carried away. Carried away translates a Greek word that means to allure you. It means to draw you away from where you were. Again, I don't know how to emphasize enough the importance of understanding this phase. Let me paint the picture for you. Here you are, going about your day. I don't know what you're doing. You're minding your own business. You're working. You're reading. I don't know what you're doing. You're doing whatever you're doing and something happens. The immodestly dressed woman walks by. Or there's an evil distracting thought that runs through your mind that seems to come from nowhere. Or there's a wallet full of money on the sidewalk in front of you. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's a unique smell which instantly brings back memories of some previous sin. I don't know what it's going to be. Who knows what it might be? Could be any number of things, but the point here is to say this. You are tempted when something happens that draws your attention away from what you were doing or what you were thinking at the time, and now all of a sudden, you have a new focus. Boom. If you can recognize that, you can live in victory. If you want to live in victory over sin, you need to be very aware of when this happens to you. Carried away translates a word that was borrowed from the fishing and hunting context. It's the picture of a fish being drawn out of its original retreat under a bank or in a hole when the bait goes floating by. Or another good word picture would be an animal walking through the woods and coming across the scent of a baited trap. That animal was on his way somewhere from here to point A to point B, and all of a sudden, a scent trickles across his nostrils and he starts looking around to see what that is. As soon as you stop doing, people, what you were doing, as soon as you stop thinking what you were thinking, to look at that which distracted you, mark it. Stage one in this process had happened. And just to help you understand this further, let me remind you of the verse that describes when stage one happened for David. 2 Samuel 11, verse 2. If you want to turn there, if you want to just listen, I'm going to read just that verse. 2 Samuel 11, verse 2, and it's a familiar account. It says this, Now when evening came, David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king's house. By implication there, we probably would understand that David couldn't sleep for some reason, decided to get up and take a walk. When evening came, David arose from his bed. He walked around on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof, he saw a woman bathing. And the woman was very beautiful in appearance. That is stage one. That is the look. David was just walking around on the roof of the king's house and something outside of him happened that caught his attention and he looked. Now I have no idea what David was thinking about as he walked around on that rooftop. But I can tell you this for sure. I do know this. Whatever it was that David was thinking about as he walked around on that rooftop, he stopped thinking about and started thinking about something else. David was carried away from where he was to where his lust wanted to take him. He was carried away from where he was to where he hadn't ought to be by what? Here we have it again, his own lust. And let me just say again here what I've said before several times, Bathsheba was not the source of David's temptation. She was just a woman taking a bath. The source of David's temptation was his own lust. And if he hadn't had that lust residing in his heart, Bathsheba would not have been a problem for David at all. And that is really what James, the essence of what James is trying to teach us in these verses. Now, before we leave this first phase, the look phase, This phase, that we might even say, fulfills the role of the doorway into the land of temptation. I have to emphasize to you the fact that this is the very best place and the very easiest place to stop the process. As Barney Feist used to say so often, You've got to nip it in the bud. Remember him saying that? I don't think Barney was much of a theologian, but that's good advice when it comes to the look phase here in James chapter 1. You've got to nip it in the bud if you want to be victorious over temptation. You've got to snuff the flicker out before it turns into a flame and then a forest fire. Skilled temptation warriors learn how to discern almost instantly when they are being drawn away. and respond by instantly drawing back. Whatever distracted you, snap your head back. Take the thought back. Go back to what you were doing immediately. And I have to tell you, that since I've studied this, I've actually had opportunities. These things are all in your mind, right? I've had opportunities to test this principle, and I can testify this morning, it works. This principle works. You need to be aware of what's going on and you will recognize the look stage. You will recognize immediately when something has distracted you from where you were and you can very easily then choose, right at that moment, to turn your attention back again to where it was. If you love God and you want to live for His glory and you want to be holy because He is holy, then you will take this advice and you will snap back. You will recognize this and you will snap back. And when you do that, you know what you have done? You have successfully squelched a potential temptation that could have otherwise led you all the way down the path that we're going to follow here for the rest of our time this morning, a path to committing a sin. If we could just understand this principle, people, if we could just apply this principle every single time, we would always be victorious over the temptations that are seeking to overtake us. And you know what? At that point, James wouldn't have to go any further with this. He can stop right here. But you know what James knows? He knows the same thing that you know, and he knows the same thing that I know. James knows that we're not always going to stop this lust process at the look phase. And if we don't stop it at the look phase, it progresses now to what I'm going to call the lure phase. Let's go on to the second one. Go back to verse 14 again with me. And as I read it now, I'm going to read it a little further into the verse, but each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed. There's our next word now that we want to look at, enticed. Carried away basically means to be distracted by something. You're going about your business, something caught your attention and you were distracted. Now let's define the word enticed. This is a word that means to beguile you or allure you by deception. This word means to ensnare you, means to entrap you, could even mean to stalk you. If carried away, here's the way I think we could well define this second process now. If carried away can be defined as the initial look, the second lure phase now can be defined as the prolonged look, the lingering look. If you didn't nip it in stage one, guess what? You're now into stage two. I said before that Stage 1 is the very best place, the easiest place to stop the whole thing, and so what I have to say to you now is that with every progressive step, it becomes harder and harder for you to stop it, and it becomes less and less likely that you will be able to stop it. Certainly you can still stop the process here at Stage 2, but not as easily as it would have been at Stage 1. And I want to take you back to David as our illustration again of this Stage 2. David on the rooftop in 2 Samuel chapter 11. This time I'm going to read verses 2 and 3, and I want you to notice where he moves from stage 1 to stage 2 in this process. Now, when evening came, David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. At this point, she has distracted him, right? And he has taken the look. And I would have to say to you that maybe by the time we get to the end of verse 2, David is already in the lure phase. He saw a woman bathing. That's the look. And the woman was very beautiful in appearance, it says. Goes on to say, and that's probably already the prolonged look there at the end of verse 2. But let me tell you this now, if David isn't into phase 2 by the time we get to the end of that first verse, verse 2, he's definitely into it by the time we get into verse 3. Phase 2, here's what happens in phase 2. Phase 2 is when the desire in you grows from a little urge that came about from a distraction into a burning desire that begins to consume you. And notice what happens now. In verse 3, we find David, alright, was distracted, he took the look, he took the lingering look, and now notice in verse 3, we find David consumed with getting more information about this woman. So David sent, and of course he had all of that information at his disposal as the king, right? So David sent and inquired about the woman, and one said, is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? David's getting in pretty deep right now. Which started with a look, turned into a lingering look, And now, by the time we get to verse 3, folks, David is doing research on this woman. Again, now let's put these two phases in perspective and understand how they work. Phase 1 is the look. That's the attention getter. That's where you're distracted by something from where you were to where your lust wants to take you. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed. That's phase 2, the lure. And what really happens at stage 2? Here's what happens at stage 2. The purpose of Stage 2 is to enlarge your desire to the point of influencing your thoughts and your decisions. Stage 2, if you will, throws dry kindling wood on that little flicker that was there when you looked with the purpose of making it burn hotter, making it burn bigger until it's ultimately burning out of control. But, it's important for me to say this. The fire is not burning out of control yet at stage two. You can still stop it. And if you don't stop it at stage one, if you didn't stop it at stage one, you better stop it at stage two. And I'll tell you why. Conception is right around the corner. The little flicker is being kindled right now, but you can still successfully throw water on it and put it out. At the look phase, you stop the process. by simply and quickly taking your snapping back, taking your original thought back. It's just over with at that point and you go on about your business. Victorious, I might add. At the lure phase, you're getting a little more involved than that. And you know what's happening at the lure phase? You're probably talking this thing over with yourself. At the lure phase, you see your lust wants to do this thing at this point and it's probably already involved in the process of rationalizing it. As a Christian, as a believer in Jesus Christ, you know what you might even be doing right now? You might even be reinterpreting some Bible verses looking for loopholes in your mind. And as I thought this whole thing through, I think the best advice that I could give you for stopping the process at stage two is this. Recognize what's going on and just immediately stop the self-talk. Cut it. Cut the self-talk. If there's some outward thing involved, like a bathing Bathsheba, get away from it. Run away from it if you have to run away from it like Joseph running away from Potiphar's wife. But above and beyond all, victory at stage two is going to come only if you stop the self-talk, only if you stop that perverted conversation that you're having with yourself by where whereby, rather, you're trying to convince yourself that it's okay to do this evil, wicked thing. Stop the self-talk. Well, let's go on to stage three. At the end of verse 14, we have the look, we have the lure, and now we have the lust. Look at verse 14 yet one more time, but each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. I have to confess to you that this one messes up the neatness of my outline just a little bit. Because this one is really not a phase in the process, this one is just where James puts his finger down on the source of the problem. We've already talked about it. This is the source of the temptation problem. Everything before it leads up to this, and everything that's going to follow it will point back to this. What was the motivation behind the look and the lure? It was the lust. And if it goes beyond the lure, What will be the reason for the conception, birth, growth, and death? Again, it will be, the reason will be the lust that resides right there at the core of your being and at the core of mine. This, people, is the source of the problem, that desire you have in you to go outside the boundary lines that God has established for your good in His glory. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. That is the source of the problem. Let's go on now to phase four. the beginning of verse 15. This is one that I'm going to call the conception phase. James calls it the conception phase. Then when lust has conceived, we're getting in pretty deep now. You didn't stop this thing at the look phase or the lure phase. You are getting in real deep at this point. The temptation snowball is gaining size and speed and is becoming very, very difficult to stop. I want you to notice something as we move on now to this phase. James now uses the analogy of human conception and birth to describe these final phases as lust turns a temptation into a committed sin. He personifies lust resulting in sin now as a mother conceiving a child. And exactly what is the conception in this analogy? The conception in this process would be the decision to sin. The decision to sin. First, there is the look that draws you away. Then there is the lure, the enticement phase, when you start trying to figure out ways to make this thing happen, when you're looking for loopholes. And all of that leads up to the decision to sin. People, the moment you make the decision to commit the sin, to fulfill your desire by sinning, enticement sits down because its work is finished. The sin has now been conceived. And we know what that means, don't we? You know what conception means. Conception means that a baby is on the way. Once you have decided to sin, a committed sin is on the way, unless something drastic takes place in whatever interval of time there is between the conception and the birth. So I have to say this to you. There is still a way to stop the thing at this point, but now it's going to take drastic measures. You never really want to let it get this far. That's James' teaching here. You never want to let it get this far. But if it does, if it does, you still better take those drastic measures, whatever that means. You better do whatever it takes to stop that baby from being born. Because that baby's name is sin. That's the baby's name. In keeping with James' analogy now, your only way out at this point, your only option at this point would be what? Your only option would be to abort the baby. That's a hard analogy for us to even deal with because killing babies in their mother's wombs is such a great tragedy, such a horrendous sin in this country of ours that we have a hard time even being able to deal with that analogy. But James uses it here. This abortion, in James' analogy, is not taking the life of an innocent baby. This abortion, in James' analogy, is an abortion that will prevent a sin from being committed. This is a baby named sin that must be aborted if you are serious about holiness for the glory of God. Conception, in James' analogy, means that the decision to sin has been made. But my point now is to say this. The sin has not yet been committed. That baby has not yet been born. And so if it has not yet been born, then it can be stopped, but only through the drastic measures of abortion. And I wish I could give you more details on what I mean by that. You say, what does that mean? Exactly what does that mean to abort the baby at this point? I don't know. I don't know what it means at this point. It's going to be probably different in every situation. But whatever it means to abort the baby, I do know that you better do it. You better take whatever drastic measures you need to take if you are serious about holiness for the glory of God. You must now abort that baby that's been conceived by whatever means it takes to do that. But if you don't abort the baby, James goes on. If you don't abort the baby, the baby will be born. Which brings us to the birth stage. James says, then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin. There really isn't too much that I can say about this stage in James' analogy. The unwanted baby has been born at this point. The sin has been committed. And all, I guess all I would say here is that this stage is what represents victory for the temptation. And to go back to 1 Corinthians 10.13 for a minute and what we learned last week, this now is the temptation that has what? Overtaken you. On all the other phases, I've offered suggestions to you as to how you could stop the thing at this point, at that point. At this point, there is no suggestion. I have no suggestion. Once the baby is born, the baby is born. There's nothing you can do to put that toothpaste back into the tube. Temptation has won and you have lost this particular battle. And the only encouraging thing I can say to you is that losing a battle, people, does not necessarily mean that you have to lose the entire war. Aren't you thankful for that? Tomorrow always marks the beginning of a new day and praise be to God, people. His mercies are new every day. You know a verse that always comes to mind when I think about that? Praise be to God for what it says in Jonah chapter 3 and verse 1. You know that story. It says this in Jonah chapter 3 and verse 1. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. Aren't you thankful for that this morning? Please understand as a child of God that he will never give up on you no matter how many times you fail him. You can never go back and undo what has been done, but you can learn from that defeat and you can then get up off the floor and you can then go forward in victory again. And let me put it to you this way. You can conquer the sin today that conquered you yesterday. Yes, you can. And that's the glory of being a child of God. Well, let's go on to finish this thought this morning by looking at stages six and seven. Stage six, I'm going to call the growth stage. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And when sin is accomplished, that's the word I want you to look at now. Word accomplished. Accomplished translates a Greek word that means to bring something to maturity. It means to perfect something. It means to complete something. And so here's what you need to understand now. Once the sin has been committed, right? The baby has been born. You need to understand that once the baby has been born, what do babies do after they're born? They grow, right? Babies grow. You need to understand that once that sin baby has been born, that baby is going to grow. If you give it into rage, rage is going to grow. If you give it into sexual lust, sexual lust is going to grow. If you give it into the love of money, the love of money is going to grow. Please understand that sin is never satisfied with only one time. Sin is addictive. Sin is going to grow. It's going to grow like an organism from conception to birth to full grown. If you did it once, I can assure you the fact that you're going to want to do it again and again and again and again. And not only will you want to do it more times, you will also want to do it with a growing degree of intensity. The candy store theft wants to turn into a bank robbery. That's the way it works. Whatever the sin is, you can always be assured of the fact that it is going to want to grow in frequency, it's going to want to grow in intensity. And you know what? There's at least one good thing that I can say about that. This inevitable growth of sin means that once again now there is an application for you, isn't there? There is something that you can do. There was nothing you could do at the birth stage, but now that the baby has been born, people, you can stop its growth by not feeding it until it dies. That's what you can do. There was nothing you could do at the birth stage, but now you can stop feeding that sin baby until it dies. You can now, in fact, let me take you back to Romans 8. What can you do once the baby has been born, once the baby starts to grow? you can now put that deed to death in the Spirit's power. Romans chapter 8 verses 12 and 13. But if you don't, we have one more phase to go. If you don't, James goes on to say that the end result of a full-grown sin is death. That's where this thing is heading. That's what sin results in, people, death. That's the seventh and final phase in this downward progression that all started all the way back there with that look, when you were just minding your own business and something caught your attention. If you didn't stop it at the look phase, and you didn't stop it at the lure phase, and if you didn't abort the sin baby after it was conceived, the sin baby was born. And then if you didn't stop it from growing, it became full grown. And I want you to look now with me one more time at what James says in verse 15. Then when lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Now here we have a very basic Bible truth that we all know. Sin results in death. It's a very basic Bible truth. We all know what it says in Romans 6, 23, for the wages of sin is death. The word death simply means separation. I think you know that. There are three kinds of deaths referred to in the Bible. There is physical death, which separates the soul from the body. There is spiritual death that separates a soul from God. And then there is eternal death, or what the book of Revelation refers to as the second death that separates both the body and the soul from God forever. Now, as we look at this text that we have open before us, who is James talking to? James is giving this instruction to Christians here, true Christians, believers in Jesus Christ. And if sin is going to result in death for the Christian, there's only one possible kind of death it could be, right? The Bible is abundantly clear. and the fact that true Christians have been delivered forever from spiritual death and from eternal death, which means, people, that there's only one kind left, only one other possibility. James has to be talking here about physical death, and certainly we know that's true from other places in the Word of God. If a Christian persists in some grievous area of sinfulness, if a Christian allows sin to become accomplished, full-grown, James says it will bring forth death. That Christian, here's what you need to understand, that Christian may end up paying the penalty of a premature physical death is what this means. We often, very often read 1 Corinthians chapter 11. In fact, we're going to read it here in just a few minutes before partaking of the Lord's supper. If you remember what it says there, some of the Corinthians were abusing the Lord's table in that context. And it says this in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 30, for this reason, many among you are weak and sick and a number sleep. So they were sleeping. That doesn't mean they were taking a nap. It means they had died. A number of them had died for that reason, for abusing the Lord's table. And then there's 1 John 5, 16. A verse that we'll get to someday in our study of that epistle that reminds us that even for believers there is a sin resulting, or a sin leading rather, to death. And once again that means a premature physical death. And so there you have the truth. Marvelous, glorious, wonderful stuff in the Word of God. The truth about temptation and the truth about lust. The truth about temptation, 1 Corinthians 10. Now this morning we have the truth about lust, the corresponding subject of lust from James chapter 1. I just trust that the Spirit of God will take those things and use them in your life for His glory. With those very practical things in mind now, here's where we're going. We're going to go back next Lord's Day and pick up our study of 1 John where we left it right there in the middle of chapter 2 and verse 1. Now that we have explored just some of God's marvelous provisions for victory over sin, I trust that the Spirit of God has you now thinking in that direction, and He's working in your life in that direction of that area of personal holiness. Now we're going to go back to 1 John 2, verses 1 and 2, and finish that thought. You know what John's going to show us there? He's going to show us God's provisions for the sins that remain. Marvelous, marvelous truth that we have in the weeks ahead. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins. And so those are the great doctrines that we have to work through in the weeks ahead. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much this morning for the truth of the Word of God. This truth that we've studied today, Father, has the potential to bring about great things for your glory. in each one of our lives. Father, just understanding lust and understanding how it works and when to stop it, Father, has the potential to bring about a greater degree of holiness in my life and in the lives of these people. Father, this is workable. This is real stuff. This is life-changing truth. And so, Father, as we have had your Word open before us this morning, all I can ask is that you would do that work, that you would accomplish that great purpose with the truth of your Word that has gone out today. Father, we love you and we thank you for it. In Jesus' name, Amen.