SERMON: “The Virology of Temptation” (James 1:13–15)
“The Virology of Temptation” (James
1:13–15)
Series: “James:
True Faith Works” #5 Text: James 1:13–15
By: Shaun
Marksbury Date: November 3, 2024
Venue: Living
Water Baptist Church Occasion: PM Service
I.
Introduction
Much like a virus, temptation starts small, but when it
finds a foothold in the human heart, it quickly spreads through our souls. Before we talk more about that, though, let’s briefly
consider for a moment where we are in this chapter. Then, we’ll consider James’s warning here.
The believers James writes to are spread out from Jerusalem
due to persecution. This is still in the
early days of the church, after Pentecost, when all believers were ethnically Jewish. Though they were trusting in the Jewish
Messiah, there were rich and powerful interests in the Sanhedrin and elsewhere wanting
to squash this movement. Acts 8:1 says, “And on that day a great persecution
began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout
the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.” Persecution drove believers throughout the
region.
So, writing from Jerusalem, the Lord’s brother James sent
this encouragement to the scattered Christians.
We might think that he would only focus on enduring trials, but he warns
of a more insidious danger than simply the persecutions they face. They’re younger believers, and so, they needed
to remember the ever-present danger of temptation and sin. Persecutions come and go, but temptation
remains.
That brings us to the passage we’re studying this evening. To help us in our modern context, we can view
temptation itself as a virus. Temptation
may start subtly, but unchecked, it has the potential to spread and ravage the
soul, leaving visible scars or even resulting in death. So, first, let’s consider the exposure to
temptation (v. 13). Second, we’ll consider
the infection of temptation (v. 14). Third,
we’ll consider the disease of temptation (v. 15).
II.
First, Consider the Exposure to Temptation (v.
13)
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.
It’s not too much of a stretch to think of temptation as
being like a virus. It enters from
outside influences and finds fertile ground in our own desires. The question is where we might be first
exposed to temptation.
Some may wonder if God sends temptation our way to see if we
can fail. There was a bad parenting book
by Michael Pearl called To Train Up Your Child. I do not recommend it. In it, Pearl advocates tempting children as a
means of training obedience, reasoning that, by intentionally placing children
in situations where they’re likely to disobey, parents can use these moments as
“opportunities” to discipline and teach submission to authority. For example, a parent should bake a batch of
cookies, tell the child that he isn’t allowed to have any, place them within
his reach, and wait around the corner for him to disobey. Pearl suggests that by confronting children
with a chance to misbehave and then punishing disobedience, parents reinforce
the importance of absolute obedience and eliminate rebellious inclinations.
Of course, this promotes fear-based control. The child may grow to be obedient, but only
through fear-of-man and lacking any understanding of grace. That creates compliance through coercion,
often at the cost of a healthy parent-child relationship. This is not the way God operates with us, exposing
us to temptation and waiting around the corner to jump on us for giving in to it.
In fact, we have a clear command here: “Let no one say when
he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God.”
The term for “tempted” here (πειράζω, peirazō)
is the verbal form of the noun translated “trials” in vv. 2 and 12 (πειρασμός, peirasmos). In v. 2, we’re commanded, “Consider it all
joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,” and v. 12 promises
blessing for those who persevere. But,
at no point should we see these kinds of trials and temptations as having their
source in God.
Why? The verb here in
v. 13 often refers to temptation coming from a satanic source. For instance, in Mark 1:13, we read that our
Lord Jesus “was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan,” and that’s
the same term that’s used here. This is
a tool of the devil to get us to stumble and fall. So, while it’s true that the temptation might
be allowed by our sovereign God, it does not originate from Him.
This is essential for our understanding, so James continues
to explain what we need to know about God.
We read that “God cannot be tempted by evil.” This but literally means that God is “untemptable”
(the Greek term says He is apeirazō). This
speaks of what theologians call the impeccability of God — He is unable to sin.
This “untemptability”
is seen even in the incarnate Son of God.
Again, Satan’s tempted Jesus in the wilderness and elsewhere, but he was
never successful. Whatever He does is
good because it is an essential part of His character, therefore, He cannot be
tempted to do evil. Said another way, He is full of light without the
slightest shadow of turning, therefore, there is no darkness in Him (cf. v. 17).
If there is no darkness or sin within God, then He can not reach it out
to tempt anyone else with it.
As we’ve already considered, a wrong understanding about God’s
use of temptation misshapes us. When men fall into temptation, their
response may be to blame God; “The foolishness of man ruins his way, and his
heart rages against the Lord” (Prov. 19:3).
It warps our relationships — Adam responded to temptation by blaming God
and Eve (“It was the woman You gave me!” cf. Gen. 3:12). It also may warp our parenting
practices, as we’ve seen. There are even
some odd so-called Christian psychologists out there who have bought into the
notion that you have to forgive God for the things He has done to you! Sinful attitudes about God do not help us.
So, temptation does not come from God — He doesn’t tempt
people. Instead, it is something that is present in the sinful world, something
a person exposes us to, or something that the devil is presenting to us. Temptation,
like a virus, may begin with an external exposure but finds fertile ground in
our sinful desires.
Exposure to temptation is inevitable in a fallen world, but
our response to it is critical. We are
responsible for seeking God’s help, not attributing our struggles to Him. Temptation must be resisted immediately, or it
will move deeper into our hearts and minds.
That brings us to the next point:
III.
Second, Consider the Infection of Temptation (v.
14)
But each one is
tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.
Temptation infects when it goes from mere suggestion to
desire that “latches” on to us. Just as
a virus needs a host to replicate, temptation finds a home in the heart. It is actually our desire that proves to be
the infection point of temptation.
Unlike God, each man has within his flesh the ability to
give into temptation. This is inherited in our sin nature. So, we read that each of us can be tempted by
our own desires.
Now, this word for desire — translated “lust” here in the
NASB — is a word with various meanings.
To be clear, God has desires and He created us in His image, also having
desires. For instance, Paul says in Philippians
1:23, he has “the desire to depart and be with Christ.” Desires here can have positive connotations.
Yet, sin twists desires within us. We see Paul begin to discuss this in Romans
7:7–8 — “What shall we say then? Is the
Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know
sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the
Law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, taking opportunity through the
commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.” A desire for good things, like food or money
or provision, becomes a covetous desire for more. The love a man can have for his wife can be
turned to lust directed at other women. Desires
become corrupted by our sin nature, making them susceptible to infection when
temptations arise.
Instead of the temptation coming from or by God, then, it
comes from or by our own desires. Jesus
explained that this is an internal problem in Matthew 15:18–20 — “But the
things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the
man. For out of the heart come evil
thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man; but
to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.” Temptation can “latch” onto us in our own
hearts, where it then infects us, spreading through the body.
How can we diagnose whether temptation has taken ahold of
our desires? Scripture says here that it
will carry away and entice us. This reflects
the imagery of a lure, much like a fish drawn toward bait. As we dwell on temptation, our desires latch
onto it, and we are drawn closer to sin.
We might say it this way — temptation is a problem once it
has its “hook” in us. Consider this: It’s not a sin for a man to go to
the beach or to the mall, nor is it a sin to flip on the computer or browse the
internet on your phone. Yet, with a simple
glimpse of skin, temptation has baited a hook.
It’s that point when desire causes eyes to linger a little too long or glance
back at the bait.
Physiological responses evidence that the hook of temptation
is actually in your soul. There may be an
increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, dilating pupils, flushed face, etc.
In other words, the accompanying feelings of excitement indicate
enticement. That’s the moment when you realize that you have been
infected with the temptation.
To be clear, this lust-response to temptation is not limited
to areas of sexual temptation. For
example, moments of covetousness leading to theft or anger leading to wrath have
similar enticing sensations. When your body gets excited about the
thought of doing something, and that contemplated action is not a godly one,
then you are experiencing temptation to sin.
The moment of infection is a critical one for our
response. Unchecked desires or lusts drive
us toward sinful actions. As Charles
Spurgeon observed, “We are too ready to think that we are tempted as no other
men are; yet all men are tempted according to their sinful inclinations.” We must not excuse the temptation nor allow
it in some way to settle in our hearts. To
halt this infection, we must submit our desires to God, asking Him to cleanse
our hearts.
We must resist early and seek the support of the Holy Spirit
to keep from being dragged away by our desires.
If we do not “treat” temptation early, it will progress toward sinful
action. Halting the “infection” can only
happen with the help of the God who is untemptable. Otherwise, temptation will conceive and
become a full-grown disease in our bodies, as we consider next:
IV.
Third, Consider the Disease of Temptation (v.
15)
Then when lust has
conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth
death.
James warns that the infection of temptation will not remain
dormant. As the MacArthur Study Bible
notes here, “Sin is not merely a spontaneous act, but the result of a process.”[1] Left unchecked, the “virus” of temptation
gives birth to sin, and sin, when fully developed, leads to death. This illustrates a fatal progression of sin,
showing that untreated temptation can lead to lethal consequences in our lives.
The desire of the heart here, again translated lust, is now infected
by temptation. James then moves on to
show us the next step of the process, using the image of the life-cycle. The conception of the lust literally means “to
grasp together.” It’s used of a woman conceiving a child (Luke 1:24), but
it also is used in the violent sense of seizing someone (Acts 26:21). Scripture
sometimes uses the picture of the conception of children as a negative image (Job
15:35; Psa. 7:14; Isa. 59:4), and that’s what James utilizes here.
For our purposes, we could understand this as meaning that temptation
takes control of the mind and heart; a decision to sin is made, and plan to
give life to the act. The conception of
a desire leads to the birth of sin. This
is where the sin actively takes place outside the mind, though sinful thoughts
and schemes are also sinful. Jesus said
to even look at a woman with lust is adultery, meaning that it is sinful even
if the act does not occur.
So, temptation has now progressed into a full-blown disease.
Sin
grows within the person. We see this
over the lifetime of a person: The lustful thoughts of youth becomes a pornography
addiction, for instance, which can then lead to other forms of debauchery. A person uses alcohol and drugs to medicate
their pain and sorrow instead of taking it to the Lord, and that grows into an addiction. None of the worst criminals set out to be
what they are, either stealing or growing so angry that they assault or murder
a person, but they grew in their sinfulness.
As sin matures, it leads to death. This is another word (a medical rather than a
literary term) for giving birth, but it is set against death. Sin itself delivers, but a stillborn or an
aborted child. Sin that follows its
course in your body will lead to death. For
instance, a perfect illustration of this is in Proverb 7, where a lustful rendezvous
leads to death. Certain addictions can
lead to overdosing. Certain sinful activities
can lead to murder. Dealing with pain in
the wrong way can lead to suicide. Temptation
is a disease that leads to the death of the infected.
This is true even of believers. In 1 Corinthians 11:30, Paul writes, “For
this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.” Temptation results in a deadly outcome that
no one is immune to if they fail to repent.
We are not only talking about physical death. The progression is clear for natural man:
temptation leads to lust, lust leads to sinful action, and unrepentant sin
ultimately leads to spiritual death. John
Calvin puts it well, stating, “There is no sin so small that it does not
deserve death.” Romans 6:23 warns us: “For the wages of sin is death, but the
free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Those who die in their sins without
repentance will face an eternity of separation from God in hell.
We must deal with sin radically and decisively, then. The only “antidote” for this disease, though, is
repentance and reliance on God’s grace through Jesus Christ. We must repentant, turning from the temptation
to the living God through Christ Jesus. With
humility, we need to recognize our dependence on God, asking Him to cleanse us
from the sin that so easily entangles (Hebrews 12:1). Without the Father of lights granting us perfect
gifts (v. 17) such as salvation and deliverance in Christ, we will not be able
to overcome our spiritual infirmity.
V.
Conclusion
Temptation, like a virus, has the potential to infect and
ultimately destroy if left unchecked. However,
there is hope for change in God’s Holy Word. As believers, we God’s promise that He will provide
a way of escape from temptation (1 Cor. 10:13). His goal is not to see us fall, but to
see us strengthened as we rely on His grace.
Temptation, left unchecked, leads to sin, and sin brings
death. But God, in His mercy, offers us
an escape in Christ, who bore the penalty of sin on our behalf. In Him, we find the strength to resist
temptation, the forgiveness for our failures, and the hope of life rather than
death.
[1] John MacArthur Jr., Ed., The MacArthur Study Bible, electronic ed., (Nashville, TN: Word
Pub., 1997), 1927.
