James - The Source Of Temptation // 18 October 2026

I don't know about you, but I absolutely loved that time of worship.

Thank you, team.

I was really loving listening to you practice.

I said to someone, should we just let them just play for the next hour and a half?

And we just soak it in.

So thank you.

That was great.

So as David has said, we're going to be looking at the book of the James over the next few weeks.

Now, if you asked me to choose just one book of the Bible as my favourite, it would be James.

If you've ever been in a youth group when I was a youth leader, if you're in my life group, they would all know that I love the book of James and I we will study it at least once a year.

I love the book of James.

You know, actually, I knew someone who's in heaven now who actually learnt every word of the book of James.

They could quote the whole book of James.

And interestingly, they they did that in their late teens, early twenties, and uh it set them up for life because actually their life had some real challenges in it.

He literally learnt every word of the book of James.

I'm not going to ask you to do that.

You struggled with Psalm 126, so don't worry, I'm not going to ask you to learn the book of James.

But it's such a practical book.

Don't know about you, but when I read it, I think the writing is relatable.

There's a timelessness to the topics.

And actually, there's quite a conciseness and clarity to the instructions.

And there is a thought that when James was writing this, it was almost like preces of sermons that he'd given and like a collation of his sermons that were then sent out.

And when I do read it, even though I probably read it several times a year, it all something strikes me every time, something really uh just makes me stop and think.

And the the really thing I just want you as well to keep in mind today is that James wrote this book to Christians.

So he's not writing to non-Christians, he's writing to Christians, and that gives us that thought when we read some of what he says, is to think, oh, this is me.

This applies to me.

I've just got a couple of verses that we're going to look at this afternoon, and Scott started this morning.

If you haven't watched live, go back and have a little listen on our YouTube channel to that.

But if you look in your Bibles, generally verses one to eighteen are one sort of lump of verses, and actually in the original writing, it looks like they were together.

So I feel like Scott and you did half a job this morning.

We didn't finish the bit.

But we could say, if we're going to split them up, which we have, that verses one to twelve are about this passion to persevere in the trials of tests of life.

Wasn't it great if you did hear earlier to understand that this perseverance is us abiding in Jesus, that it's not endurance?

I was really struck by that this morning, and I had this really great thought.

Well, I thought it was great thought, that actually it says in Hebrews that Christ endured the cross.

And I thought, He's endured, so we don't have to.

We don't have to endure, he's done it for us on the cross, and so we can just understand that this perseverance looks like abiding in Jesus.

And then these few verses this afternoon, maybe they're more about staying pure when faced with temptation.

But what's really, really clear is that both trials and temptations are part of the Christian's life.

So I'm going to read uh just verses from James 1, 13 to 18.

If you want to follow along in your Bibles, I'm reading from the NIV version.

James 1.

When tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me.

For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone.

But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.

Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin.

And sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.

Don't be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all He created.

So we're going to spend a little bit of time just looking at a couple of key points this afternoon.

But before we get there, I want to make actually three short what you might call explanations or qualifications that I think if we ignore them, we don't get the most out of these verses.

So it says there, God cannot be tempted by evil.

And that word used there for that temptation, I'm going to try and say it, uh, is aperastos, maybe.

And it's actually here is the only time that Greek word is used in the New Testament.

And what it's attempting to describe is a nature that is immune or resistant to the enticement of sin.

So it's showing us about the moral perfection and the unchangingness of God.

As I say, it's the only time that we read is here.

And so we have to think about that, and then we have to think, hold on, we know Jesus was tempted in the desert for 40 days before the fullness of his ministry started.

And so we need to understand that context to understand this.

And so this understanding that Jesus was both fully God and fully man, and so he did meet and face temptation as a man.

One writer uh says this the divine nature of Jesus Christ could not be tempted.

That is, the divine nature of Christ had nothing within it to be attracted to sin.

But his human nature could be tempted and was clearly tempted.

And of course, the really encouraging thing is Jesus met that temptation head on and actually didn't fall into temptation, didn't sin.

So we need to understand when it's talking about that God can't be tempted, it's not denying what happened to Christ, it's talking in that sense of the divine nature.

And then, of course, it says right at the beginning, when tempted.

And as I said, this book's written to Christians, and so you will be tempted by sin.

Uh, you're not immune from temptation.

You know, there's a few pastors in the room, we're not immune from temptation.

Because we've accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior doesn't mean temptation won't be there.

We will be tempted.

These verses are really, really clear.

And then in verse 15, the the third point, just to clarify, is James says, about then after desire is conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin when it is full grown, gives birth to death.

So what's James talking about?

He's not literally talking about that one-off life-ending moment that unless Jesus comes again before will happen to each of us.

It's much more him asking us to consider a spiritual death.

Of course, that has consequences because if we die spiritually dead, our eternity is impacted.

We won't be with the Lord.

But he's talking about this slippery slope where we can spiritually die as we give way to sin.

Reminds me a bit of Psalm 1, that progression of standing and walking and sitting in the way of evildoers.

So just three things to think about that thought about God can't be tempted, that you will be tempted, and that the outcome of giving in to that temptation has actually quite dire consequences if it keeps happening.

So, what do I really want us to look at?

Well, I think the sentence that I've written that I really want us to think about is that the battle with temptation is one or lost in the heart.

Scott talked about reacting and response this morning, and there's that same sense of not the first thing, but the thing that we're going to then go on and choose to do, because the battle with temptation is one or lost in the heart.

We need to know that.

We need to actually own our own weaknesses, and we need to do what we can to stop the cycle that James describes.

And the earlier we stop it and trust the goodness of God, the better for us, and actually the better for those around us.

I think these verses make that really clear.

So I said temptation starts with the heart.

James says it starts with desire, and uh, I'm sure that we all have different things that tempt us.

And it's always uh risky when you're talking like this to start naming things because you'll forget something, somebody think, oh, that thing I struggle with, then that's all right.

But I'm gonna name a few: pride, selfish ambition, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, laziness, jealousy, drunkenness, hate, gossip.

There are a number of lists in the New Testament, and they're not all of them, just some of the things that might tempt us to fall into those sin.

Now, uh, you were talking about sons.

Have you noticed that often children like to blame somebody else when something goes wrong?

But it was least okay.

I mean, it was always my sister's fault, actually.

I was the perfect child, it was always my sister's fault in our house growing up.

And for my children, there's one at the back who would say it was always their brother's fault, and it was never see, she's nodding away, it was never hers.

We do have a tendency, not just as children, but as adults.

We like to blame someone else or something else when we do something that we know isn't what God wants us to do.

When we're tempted and we begin to sin, when we're tempted and we do something we know is wrong, we do like to blame someone else, or is it just me?

You know, and Adam and Eve blame the servant.

We might blame another person, we might blame our circumstances.

I didn't have any choice.

You don't know what was in front of me.

We might even blame our upbringing, we might blame the events around us, and that's we're great at it, we're great at blaming other people.

I also think we're prone to comparison and uh really conscious that most of us in this room, this verse is we know really well.

So I think this bit might be for us.

We're prone to comparison.

Oh, my sins are quite small.

I've been a Christian many years.

God is sanctifying me really well.

It's just this little area.

Oh, but Jake over there, that's much worse.

Always, you know, we do like to compare.

Our sins never as bad as somebody else's, is it?

And yet that's not what the Bible teaches.

It says that we all sin and fall short of the glory of God.

And it says that all sin separates us from God unless we are alive in Christ.

So I just want us to consider: do we like to blame others?

Do we like to compare?

Because I think if we're truthful, there are times when we do both.

What James says is actually when you're tempted, name it, acknowledge it.

That's quite a modern thing to name it.

Name it, name what's happening, name the problem, acknowledge it, don't be deceived by it.

Because if you do, the danger's clear.

That desire, that temptation gives birth to disobedience or sin, and that disobedience gives birth to death.

You know, when we read the Bible and also when we acknowledge our own experiences, we can see that there are circumstances that God has allowed, circumstances that have been permitted that do cause us temptation.

But categorically, God never prompts anyone to sin.

It is never God prompting us to sin.

He has a desire that we be conformed into the image of Jesus.

He can't lie, he can't be contrary to himself, and so prompting us to sin would be contrary to that desire that his whole heart for us is that we would be conformed into the image of Jesus.

It's Satan that tempts us, and he does it to defeat us.

We see that when we look at the account of when Jesus was tempted.

Satan used different ways to tempt, but Jesus resisted temptation, and we can too.

I think one of my absolute favorite verses is later on in James, James 4, 7.

Submit yourselves then to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Not may, not might do, not on a good day, not if you've prayed enough.

Submit yourselves then to God.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

So how do we resist temptation?

How do we manage what's happening in our hearts?

How do we stop that cycle from happening?

Again, James is quite clear.

He says, not as we looked at this morning, just abide in Christ.

He says, look at Christ, look at his goodness, look at the goodness of God.

Everything good, every good gift is coming from God.

This God we know that can't change, this God who's not going to turn away from us, this God that wants to give us life and life to the full.

Resisting starts with us looking at the goodness of God.

And James says, Don't be deceived.

And it's like, well, what does he mean?

He's he's talked about this temptation, then he goes on about the goodness of God.

But in the middle there, he says, Do not be deceived, brothers and sisters.

I was thinking about that, and I thought, do you know what?

Sometimes sin looks quite tempting.

Does everybody else is like having a great time doing something?

We're fed up of the hard work in our marriage, we're fed up with being the only one that doesn't gossip, whatever it might be.

Sin can look quite attractive.

That's the deception.

That's what James is warning us again.

It may look pleasing, it may look attractive, it may look fun.

But that is not truth.

In fact, it's a lie.

If we are tempted to sin through deception of something being pleasing, attractive, or good, that is a lie.

James says, don't be deceived.

Know God's character, know that he's good, know that his ways are best, know his love, know his character.

Know that actually, as we've said, he's not the one tempting us.

But we've accepted Christ.

We're born again.

We've got new birth.

The old is gone, the new has come.

And so just a very short opportunity to think of some other ways to avoid and resist temptation.

Matthew 26 tells us, be watchful and pray.

Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Be watchful, understand what causes you problems, what might lead you down a path you shouldn't be going, and pray.

Psalm 119, verse 11.

Psalms 119:11

Do as Jesus did when he was tempted.

Know the word, reflect on it, use it as a tool.

Psalm 119 says, I have hidden your word in my heart, that I may not sin against you.

2 Timothy 2, 22 actually says it's a bit like resist the devil and he will flee.

This verse says, flee from sin.

Don't linger there, don't leave yourself in the situation.

It says, flee the evil desires of youth and pursue instead righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

There's a second little important thing there.

We can resist together.

Talked about that this morning as well.

We've got each other to help us, to walk with us, to be there with us.

And Hebrews 2, 17 and 18, look to Jesus.

Not just for who he is, not just because of his character and his goodness, not just because of what he's done, but he can help us.

Hebrews 2 says this.

For this reason, he, Jesus, had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.

Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

I love it if you can help me, but I really love it if you tell me also to look for Jesus for help.

I think it'll be the best thing.

Turn to Jesus for help in our temptation.

So I don't want to leave you with this like overwhelming negativity.

Oh, you know, sometimes I get it wrong, I sin, I struggle with this, or I struggle with that.

Because I don't think that's what these verses leave us with.

We can feel overwhelmed by trials, overwhelmed by temptations that we face in life.

But as I was preparing, I thought, no, we can't end there, we can't leave it just on those thoughts.

And every time I was thinking about it, I kept finding myself in Lamentations 3.

Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed.

His compassions never fail.

They are new every morning.

Great is your faithfulness.

If you slip, if you walk head on in knowing what you're doing, if you really get it wrong, his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning.

You can start again.

He's waiting for you to.

Great is his faithfulness.

So despite the temptations we will face, God's love is greater.

Despite what might often feel like a poor attempt at resisting sin, the price is already paid.

You are free in Him.

And we have this unchanging, forgiving Father, a Son who's paid the price for us, an assurance that the Holy Spirit is with us.

And so, church, we can live life to the full, free from the burden of sin, free from uh you know, and being able to resist temptation because full freedom is found in Jesus.