James Session 4
Tom Shrader distinguishes between God's testing (which produces good) and Satan's temptation (which aims for destruction) from James 1:13-18. He explains the process of temptation: being carried away by our own lust, which conceives and gives birth to sin, ultimately leading to death. Shrader emphasizes that every good gift comes from God, who is unchanging and chose us through the word of truth.
“Sin will always take us further than we want to go, and keep us longer than we want to stay, and cost us more than we want to pay.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: James (2009)
Recorded: 2009 at Cannon Beach Conference Center
Duration: 56 min
Themes: temptation, testing, sin, hope, incarnation, grace, death, truth, struggling with temptation, facing trials, new believer, questioning faith, business professional, young adult, feeling defeated, seeking purpose
Scripture: James 1:13-18, Romans 1, Romans 10, Genesis 3, Proverbs 1:7, Proverbs 2:6, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel
Theological Themes: temptation, spiritual warfare, sanctification, becoming holy, sovereignty, biblical authority, christology, word of truth
Full Transcript
Our Hope Is in Christ Alone
We made an adjustment to have worship close with the song "In Christ Alone," and last night when we were singing that song, it struck me that it capsulizes so much of what we're talking about. I thought it would be interesting to look at some of the words you've now sung twice, to drive home a couple of points.
Our hope is in Him. There should be a theme here - this should be a summary of what we've been talking about in our fourth time together. Our hope is in Him, and we find that hope nowhere else. We are hopeless wanderers looking for something else. Our heart, as John Calvin said, is an idol factory. We continually look to find hope somewhere else - that's the draw, that's what temptation is. It pulls us away, ties something in us. We find it in Him, and we say that He's our light, He's our strength. In the midst of all of the storms, all of the things we've talked about, He is our comforter.
The Story of the Incarnation
This is a story of the Incarnation. He becomes flesh, He's a helpless babe. It strikes you that Jesus came into the world just like you and I did. He came into the world as a baby, He grew, He was engaged in life and commerce. I just led a business study with a new concept for reaching business guys, and I wanted to test drive it with a group of six people. In there we were talking about Jesus, and somebody asked a great question I'd never thought about: what do you think it would have been like to walk into Jesus' carpenter shop and try to negotiate a deal with Him? I never really thought about that, but that's the humanity of Him.
Then He is scorned - scorned by whom? You and me, while we were enemies. I think sometimes we don't fully get this. I've talked about this before, but when I hadn't been a Christian very long, someone said, "Imagine this: imagine if you were the only person alive, Jesus would have come and died for you." I don't know how you figure that kind of stuff out, but let's assume it's true for a second.
If that were the case, if I was the only person alive and Jesus came and died for me to save me from my sin, it would have had to have been me that pounded the nails into Him. That's a powerful thought - into His wrists and His feet. It would have had to have been me that jabbed that spear in His side. It takes on a whole new dimension, doesn't it? I'm killing Him and He is dying for me. That's the depth of my sin and the picture of His love.
The Wrath of God Satisfied
It's on that cross that the wrath of God was satisfied. There's a big fancy word - if you go home and they ask what you learned at Cannon Beach, and you really want to impress your friends, you can say Dr. Tom talked about propitiation. It's to satisfy the wrath of God.
Paul talks about this concept in Romans chapter 1. Paul says, "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth, because that which is known about God is evident within them." Everybody knows there's a God. They know there's something bigger than them.
The Evidence of a Creator
I know that virtually everywhere I go, I'll use some illustration like this: the very existence of this piano proves the existence of the manufacturer. This piano was made by - what does it say over there? That is not coincidental. The very existence of that piano screams the existence of Yamaha.
Listen, there had to be somebody who put that piano together. You don't for a second think that the white keys were over here, and the black keys were over here, and the strings were over here, and the casings were over there, and the wheels were over there, and the bolts were over there, and then one day they just all came together. You don't believe that. You don't believe it for a second. That piano screams of the existence of Yamaha.
But that piano was manufactured, and everything that you and I do is manufactured. We've never created. God created. We start with raw materials and make a chair, or a pulpit, or a conference center. God started with nothing and created this earth. That's what Paul's saying, and everybody knows it. When somebody says they don't know, it's impossible. It's irrational. You cannot get something from nothing.
The greatest mind that America ever produced was Jonathan Edwards. Jonathan Edwards said, "Nothing is what a rock dreams about when it sleeps." You can't even conceive of nothing.
Now, I don't know what you thought about, but it was something. You can't conceive nothing. That's exactly what Paul's saying. That which is known about God is evident within him. Everybody gets it. That's why our heart is an idol factory. We're always worshiping something.
For it's evident within him. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and His divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made so that we are all without excuse. What do you have to do to be ungodly? Here's the answer: Nothing.
For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him, and they did not give thanks to Him. Instead, they become futile in their minds and their speculations, and their heart is darkened, and professing to be wise, they became fools. Thomas Jefferson, great example, right? Great mind. Dumb as a brick when it comes to the spiritual things. Here's what Paul's saying: Every person everywhere knows there's something, and God has revealed Himself to them so that they can never say, "I never knew." But His wrath will be poured out on him.
The Wrath of God Satisfied
That's what this is. The wrath of God was satisfied. On that day, on the cross, here's what happened. Can't fully explain it, though I understand it. Jesus Christ was treated—He who knew no sin—was treated as though He were guilty of, and therefore should be punished for, every sin of every person that would ever believe in Him.
That's the agony of the cross, right? The agony of the cross is not the physical part of this. Many, many, many hundreds, thousands of people have died more physically agonizing deaths than Christ. I'm reading a novel right now, this new hot novel, and they're trying to torture this guy to get some information for Al-Qaeda, and they're sticking his face in fire. And it just seems to me, he said, waterboarding's too easy. Well, I can't even fathom that.
That's not me. I'm not kidding, and this is not an exaggeration. Yesterday in preparing the message, I got this minuscule paper cut, and I didn't know it was crowded in Seaside, so I didn't go to ER, but I was that close. If there was urgent care, I would have been there. So I've got no stomach for this. What was poured out on Jesus was that anger, that wrath of God.
God is an angry God, man. Because God loves, God hates. He loves you, me, us, righteousness. He hates sin. So it's poured out on Him. Every sin was laid on Him.
The Power of the Resurrection
Now, here's the result. We finished the resurrection. He rises from the dead. By the way, we go through this every year down our way around Easter time. Can I be a Christian and not believe in the physical resurrection of Christ? Here's the answer: No. You can be a liberal. You can be somebody who plays church. But to be saved is to believe that God raised Him from the dead. That's Romans 10.
So if you don't believe in the physical resurrection of Christ, you're following some caricature, but not a believer. Because the power is in there. For us to be redeemed and the power for us to live. He stands up in victory.
Now, sin's curse—I'm going to come back to this when we get to the text here. Sin's curse has lost its grip on me. Will you make a note of that? We're coming back. Sin's curse has lost its grip on me. I've been brought. I've been bought at a price.
No Guilt, No Fear
And so, here's the deal. I have no guilt in this life. I may feel guilty, but it's my own problem, not God's. And I have no fear of death. I am not afraid of death, meaning the other side.
I say this, and I may be just kidding myself. We don't know because I haven't been tested. But I honestly believe if somebody broke into this place right now and they said to me, either deny your faith or we'll kill you, I believe I would, well, I would probably be a little pragmatic. I'd say, "Well, how are you going to kill me?" "We're going to shoot you." "Okay, that's good."
I would say, "Okay, here, let me help you. Get that barrel right up here. Don't miss, man. I don't know what kind of shot you are. Let's take no chances. Put it in here, right in there, and just pull it." And I think I would do that because I have no fear of the other side of this. I know to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Why? Because He told me that.
Our New Destiny
He commands now my destiny. He didn't just—really important—change your designation. So the Bible says we were sinners and now it calls us saints. Seems kind of weird. He changes our destination from hell to heaven, but He changes our destiny, the reason we're here, the purpose that we're here, all that we're about.
God saved us to be part of His grand and enormous plan that's laid out in this book that has basically four parts to it. His creation. This is really interesting. It's a four-act play, essentially. Act one is creation. Act two is the fall. This is God fixing it. It's redemption and then restoration.
You are part of this story. You are part of this plan. You are part of, now that He's redeemed you, you are part of that restoration. I have all my friends saying, "Listen, I understand. It's not going to be perfect until Jesus comes." I got that. But we are to be here to push back, the best we can, the effects of the fall, first in our life and then our world. That's a gigantic point. And we do this until He returns.
Isn't that great? We're singing that. And I do that for a couple of reasons. Because I just think it summarizes what we've talked about for three or four or five times, however
But also, I think it should jar you that when you sing these songs, doggone it, they mean something. Don't just sing them. Don't just sing those words.
I'll make a little pitch here. I'm probably hypersensitive to this because I'm a church guy. I get a lot of whining about music. I get a lot of whining, especially from old people. Why don't we sing these good old songs? Why don't we sing the hymns?
Do you understand? Here you go. Great is Thy Faithfulness, I think, as well. A Mighty Fortress is Our God. That song, that melody, is an old German beer-drinking song. That's what they did. So they took Thriller and put A Mighty Fortress is Our God to it. That's all they did. That gives you something to do this afternoon, you guys. Figure that out. You do that, I'll moonwalk, and we'll have a heck of a time.
Worship Through Music
But I am so sick of hearing about music, this modern music. There's nothing evil about the beat. It's the words. And I will tell you this, the stuff that Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman and David Crowder and all these guys are writing, by and large, is far more theologically accurate than some of these hymns we sing over and over again.
So I'm not beating up on anybody. I'm just saying, when you're singing them, we're not just doing this as a warm-up act. This is God opening your heart to speak to your mind. Now, let's ask Him to do that.
Father, will you speak to our mind through Your Word? What a powerful thing it will be when Your Spirit applies Your Word to our heart. We ask that in Jesus' name. Amen.
The Context of James
So in the book of James, James is writing to these 12 tribes. They're dispersed abroad. There's persecution. There are refugees. So he tells them, listen, count it all joy when you encounter various trials. You need to know something. You need to get my view. You need to see it like I see it.
Proverbs 1, verse 7, Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom. Proverbs 2, verse 6, The Lord gives wisdom. From His mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
So in the midst of trials, this stuff's unfolding all around us. I need wisdom to see Him. Because my flinch, of course, is to pull back. I'm only human. My flinch is to resist. But He says if I ask for wisdom, He'll give it to me. And He will give it to me without reproach. He's not going to say you're overdrawn here at the wisdom bank. And I'm not going to give you any more. He's going to give you wisdom. And then it will be given to you generously.
Faith Without Obligation
Now here's the qualifier in verse 6. But ask without faith. I find myself saying this over and over again. And it's a huge point. And I assume what I was doing is if I had enough discipline at this point to have a PowerPoint together, these would be giant points that I would make. They'd be bullets or something. This is a huge point. My faith is in Him. And that faith doesn't obligate Him to act.
So I had, I'm not exaggerating, had a guy come in a priority living study, all like this. He's all like this. I said, how are you doing? He said, I'm doing fine. I said, well, you don't look so good. He said, I've been healed. And I said, really? He said, yeah, I believe God for healing. I said, well, how is that working for you so far? Because it doesn't look to me like you've been healed.
And he's part of this, I think, false theology that says I'm just believing God's going to heal me. Why would you obligate Him to do something He never said He was going to do? I believe He can heal you. I can believe bigger than heal you physically. I believe He can heal your heart, transform your heart, transform your mind.
Here's what we've been saying to the kids all year. Transform our heart, inform our mind so we can live a radical life. I believe He'll do that, can do that. He'll give to us generously if we have faith. And our faith, again, doesn't obligate Him. And you say, well, give me an example of this. Because He warns us in verse 8, we're unstable, man, if we're doubting back and forth Him. We're unstable, shaky ground.
Rich and Poor in God's Kingdom
Let the brother who doesn't have much, I'm paraphrasing now, who doesn't have much, worldly, let him, in fact, glory in his high position. And the guy who's got a whole bunch of stuff, let him be careful.
Now, he's not saying this. If you're poor, you're going to heaven. If you're rich, you're going to hell. He's not saying that. He's saying there's a natural tendency here. And there's a tendency on the part of each other. That's what really happens.
I'm not sure when I get there. I would guess probably tomorrow. When we get to chapter 2, we see that they're showing favoritism to people who have stuff. He says your glory here has nothing to do with your economic circumstance. It has everything to do with your relationship with God. Glory, rejoice, boast. Boast about what? Boast about this relationship with Him.
The Temporary Nature of Earthly Things
And then, again, this becomes a theme. You'll see it's really a thematic book. This becomes a theme, what he lays out in verse 10. The grass is passing away. Wind is going to come. It's going to wither the grass. It's going to blow it away. And that will be true of you and me in the midst of this. However, it's all worth it. We are on the ultimate deferred compensation program.
Now, having said that, I don't want us to trivialize what God does in our life here on earth. Because my fear is sometimes we talk so much about heaven and the idea of heaven and God working there that we forget to see that God's working here. We forget to see Him work in the lives of men and women and people, children, here. And bring love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control to us here and to us now. We don't want to miss this.
His message, again, is not... I'm out of notes. That can't possibly be right. Hang on. We could be in for a long day. Oh, well. We're going to do this from memory. Now, the bar ought to be a little lower now. Oh, I don't know what I did with them. Well,
When God Tries Us vs. When Satan Tempts Us
Here's what He does. He says in verse 13, "Let no one say when he's tempted, I'm being tempted by God. For God cannot tempt by evil. He's not tempted by Himself, nor does He tempt anyone else."
Now, the word that's translated temptation, the word that's translated trials, are fundamentally the same word. The distinction is this. Jesus, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, come into our lives, and in those instances, they will try us. Their intention is to produce good in us. But there is an enemy who comes to tempt us. And his intention is not to do good in our life. His intention is destruction.
The Reality of Our Enemy
You have an enemy whose name is Satan. And Satan is here to destroy you. That's his whole intention. He's a liar. He's a deceiver. He's a murderer. He comes as either a roaring lion or a subtle serpent or an angel of light.
I saw a stat, and I'll blow this number, but it's high. Something like 72% of people who identify themselves as born-again Christians do not believe that Satan exists. Now, think of what an advantage that is for him.
You ever read the screw tape letters? I know some of you will have for sure. I love screw tape because it really does, in this perverse way, give you this idea of how Satan works and begins to trap and begins to work in our lives as an angel of light. Roaring lion, we kind of spot. But an angel of light, he comes along, and oftentimes he comes and says, "You know, I love you. I really do love you."
Satan's Strategy in the Garden
That smells very much like what he did with Eve in the garden. If I go back to Genesis chapter 3, this is where it all went south for us, by the way. I get that question all the time. "Oh, when I get to heaven, I'm going to ask God." I don't think it's going to work that way. When I get to heaven, if there's any question I want to ask, I want to say to Adam, "What were you thinking?" Because that's what started this whole thing for us.
Well, all of a sudden what happens when the serpent appears, he said, "Indeed, did God say you shouldn't eat from this?" And then she says, "From the fruit of the tree that's in the garden, we may eat, but not from the fruit of the tree that's in the middle of the garden, nor eat it or touch it." "Indeed, did God really say that? Because you know what, Eve, I love you. No pun intended. You're the apple of my eye. I love you, Eve. Well, I don't know why God's putting rules and boundaries and regulations on you. I'd never do something like that. That seems so unfair and so harsh."
See, that's how the angel of light comes. Angel of light comes and says, "What kind of a religion are you anyway? Just a bunch of don't do this and don't do this and don't do this."
God's Commands Are for Our Good
Yeah, there are some things in here that God is pretty clear about that He says not to do. But He says it, really important now, for our own good.
I'll give you a great example: premarital sex. Premarital sex makes absolute sense to me. It really makes sense. I mean, we're about to say, "I do," and it's supposed to be forever. It would seem to me I'd want to check out all the possible ways where we may have difficulty or be incompatible. It really makes common sense to me. Although it's a trite phrase, the concept, "I wouldn't buy a car unless I test drove it," seems to apply. That just makes sense.
But God says no. And there's a side of us that goes, "You just don't want us to have any fun." He said, "No, no, no, that's not it at all. He said, this is designed to be the most intimate experience you can have on earth. It's a meeting not just to exchange body fluids, but it's a meeting of the mind. It's a heart. There's a vulnerability there. And I don't want you ever to experience that. Because once that person walks out of that room, they're taking a little bit of you with them. And it's for your own good."
Larry Wright and Sue Wright, who counseled hundreds of couples, said never one time did we counsel a couple who was having problems sexually, who were virgins when they got married. Never once. We've had the other, where somebody comes along and says, "You know, he's not really that good. Should have stuck with Brad." That kind of thing.
Rules Are Protection, Not Restriction
God says, "Listen, it's for your own good." We did it with our kids. "Don't go out in the street." "You don't want us to have any fun." "We don't want you to get hit by a truck." I do confess there were days I was rolling their balls out in the street. "Chase it. Go get it now." That'd be a good day. It didn't work out so well for you. I'm sorry. I hope you learned your lesson.
But do you see that? That's all that stuff. That's all that new age. That's all that - and I don't mean liberal. Liberal is a good word if it's speaking of generosity. But other than that, and giving and those things, other than that, generally dangerous.
The Danger of Editing God
This liberal thought that like God's a God of love. Is God a God of love? This is not a trick question. Is God a God of love? Sure He is. But if all I talk about is His love, I've edited out who He is. So the Bible says, "Watch those who add to or take away from the word."
Well, we got the adder toers spotted. If somebody says, "You've got the Bible, but you need another book," that would be an adder toer. It's the takers awayers that are hard to spot. Because they'll talk about love and the God of love, but they don't...
The Nature of Temptation
Each one is tempted when he's carried away and enticed by his own lust. There's a process here in this temptation. Verse 14 tells us that each one—that's all of us—we're all tempted. Nothing wrong with temptation. I can be tempted and not sin. How do we know that? Perfect example: Jesus. He was tempted, but did not sin.
This temptation is something that happens internally that's drawn by something externally. He says each one is tempted when he's carried away and enticed. Those are two very similar ideas with a subtle difference. Carried away means to have something that comes before you that pulls you away, that tempts you, that says, "Come here. Come to me." Enticed is something that coaxes you out like an animal—coaxes an animal out of a safe place.
The picture of this, and a word that I use frequently in this context, is when we are lured away. I'm not a fisherman. Susan and I will be up there hopefully about August 10th or 11th. We have a cabin that we go to—it's not our cabin. I'd rather know someone who owns a cabin than own a cabin. They own a cabin, and it's a really cool place. I love to go there. They have their own pond that's stocked with fish. You throw the hook out, and the fish grabs it with a fin and shoves it in his mouth. That's how this works.
Here's what I've discovered: I don't like the fish, but I do like to catch. I'll throw out there, and after about five minutes, if that bobber's not going under, I'm going back to the cabin.
The Master Fisher
One time, I was in Montana at a dude ranch, which is where dudes like me go. I don't like rustic, and so this was the first time the camp had been opened. It was built by a very rich man from Dallas who had brought in interior decorators to design the cabins. They were done in a rich hunter green. The thread counts on the sheets, which is a big thing to me, was probably around 750. At night, there were people—I don't know who they were, I never saw them—who would come in and turn down our beds and put chocolate on them. We had a chef, and then we had a pastry chef that they had flown in from New York just to prepare baked goods for the week. Now, that's a dude ranch. Lest you think it was totally easy, there were only two satellite TVs.
I get down early on the second day, and there's a guy at this cabinet, about like the piano, and he's got these doors swung open, and he's in there messing around. I said, "What are you doing?" He said, "Well, I work here." I said, "What do you do?" He said, "I'm the fisher boy." I said, "Well, what is that?" He said, "Well, do you fish?" I said, "I catch." He said, "Well, do you fish?" I said, "No."
He said, "Well, here's what I do. I get up way early before all the guests, and I go down and fish the river, or stream, or creek, or whatever it is—I don't know what it is, a bunch of water moving. Because every day, based on shadows and the velocity of the river, fish will hit on different things. This whole rack was lures. I'll go down and fish in the shade, and I'll go to the bend, and then I'll move around. When guys come up for breakfast that are fishing, I'll have a little meeting with them, and I'll say, 'If you're going to go down in the shadows, use the greens today. If you're going to go over there, where there's a little bit of brush, it looked like the yellow oranges were hitting. If you come around the corner, I would say the reds would be good.'"
He said, "You want to fish with us today?" I said, "No, not at all." But I said, "Thanks, because you gave me a great illustration for James chapter 1, verse 14."
Satan's Lures
That's what Satan does. He's the great fisher boy. He'll cast, let's say there's money. If you don't buy it, that's okay. He'll just tie another one. If I had my notes right now, I have a press release from some company in Minnesota that makes lures. The whole thing was they've made this lure that's so much like whatever the bait was supposed to be, that it's literally indistinguishable to the fish. You spray it with a little something that even smells like it.
That's what Satan does. He just keeps coming. There's something inside of you—that's this idea of being carried away or enticed. There's something inside of you. It's that word lust, "enticed by his own lust." You see that—own lust. It's very individualistic.
Some people, it is all about stuff, money, power. Some people, it's prestige. Some people, it's reputation. I gave up a long time ago worrying about my reputation from this perspective. Reputation is what others think about you, and you want desperately to not give them reason to not like you. What's really important is not my reputation—
but my character. So it's your reputation. It may be physical appearance. It could be sex. It could be drugs. It could be anything.
As I'm teaching through the life of David in 1 and 2 Samuel, and I was talking about last night with the staff, it is almost impossible to study the life of David and have any respect left for him at the end. This guy screws up constantly. And yet in the midst of this, there's this little remnant where he acts in a noble way. Maybe sometime this week I'll take you back to 1 Samuel where he acts in this noble way. He's told, "Listen, Jonathan says, Saul knows. I know. Abigail knows. Everybody knows you're going to be the king. Saul says, you're going to be the king." And the next verse, David's doubting it. Running to Gath. Do you know what Gath was? That's where Goliath played his home football. That was a home team for him. And now he's chasing the Israelites.
In the life of David, he's got some issues, but they're always an issue, it seems, with girls. He just seems vulnerable there. If one wife is good, then two is better. Then he's got this. Then he's all settled in, and then there's Bathsheba, and then it goes around. Everybody's got something.
How Sin Entices Us
And what Satan does, or the flesh does, or the world does, is entice you. And it somehow cons you into thinking that what it's offering will provide what, in fact, it will never do. So the old saying that we use is that sin will always take us further than we want to go, and keep us longer than we want to stay, and cost us more than we want to pay. Always. Rarely absent in an isolated incident, but usually over a period of time with a steady slide.
Internet porn, kind of the big thing right now. And I know that first time that a guy's coming onto that site, he's seeing something there, and the adrenaline is going, and heart is pumping, and he's moving, and then it's another click, and then it says, "Are you 18?" You're 18, you click this, you get in the site. And you go, "No," you leave the site. But then in a minute or two, you're back there. Click. And you're in it. And once you're in it, it's really hard to get out of it. Because that stuff gets on your hard drive, man. And that's pretty hard to get out of there.
And again, we keep it isolated here. Sex is always the easiest one. But it can be food. Here we go. I'm talking to somebody the other day, and they said, "I like comfort food." You ought not be deriving comfort from your food, but from Christ.
Personal Struggles with Comfort Food
I have no problem. We were last night with the staff, and they had these. And I've been really doing well eating for the last four or five months. But I got a couple things I love. Let me give you a list of them. Cheetos. Well, there's a big old bucket of Cheetos. The kettle chips, those kettle chips things. Well, they had some Maui onion kettle chips. I like kettle chips. But the ones I like are the ones that are folded in two where you get a double crunch. So I've got to pick through. It's not very sanitary. But I've got to pick through to find those.
When it comes to ice cream, here's what I like. In fact, the only thing that's great, I was with a nutritionist a couple weeks ago. And she said, "You need to eat vegetables." I said, "Okay." And then it's the same drill always. "What vegetable do you like?" Well, there's only one vegetable I like. "What is it?" Corn. That's exactly right. Everybody likes corn. So she said, "Well, you need to eat something green." I said, "Well, the only thing I like that's green is chocolate mint ice cream."
So last night, there is a half a gallon of Breyers chocolate mint and a half a gallon of cookies and cream. Those are the two I order, put them together with a little caramel and chocolate chips. Then I rush to the cardiologist to see. Well, here's my point. It could be that. If I'm turning to food for comfort or the Internet for comfort or relationship, whatever I'm turning to for comfort other than Christ is an idol. So I have to really care here.
The Heart Issue Behind Sin
This is all about your heart, man. This is all about your heart issue. So when I'm playing golf, I like this little stiff this morning, but my swing is pretty good. Can't putt. People will say golf is a character builder. It is not. Golf is a character revealer. It shows you what's in there. That's what trials are.
So here's what happens. This lust that's in you. You don't need to write it down, but you ought to figure out what it is. This lust that's in you. Along comes Satan or the flesh or the world, and it entices you or carries you away. And there is that struggle in there.
Susan and I had a mild disagreement over the confession of the governor of South Carolina. She took what I would describe as a typically unforgiving female perspective. I took the realistic, God-oriented grace perspective. I give you too much detail. Here's the thing. I'm watching this guy. Get the guy out of the thing and forget Susan and me. And Susan was right about some of it. But here's what I know is right. He didn't want to do that. And yet he desperately wanted to do that. He flew down to Argentina to get rid of this gal. But if he really wanted to get rid of her, he would have said, "I'm done with you," send. But see, that's the heart, man.
The Power of Sin
I'm talking to a guy on the phone two weeks ago, and he's married, and he's been messing around with this girl. And he said, "I'm done with it. I'm done with it." And he said, "Tom, but here's the deal. Every time my phone rings, I'm hoping it's her." That's sin. That's the power of sin.
So He has broken our bondage to sin, but not the presence of sin in our life. That's why you still have something that makes you feel sad and mad and stupid when you do it. Well, what happens in this process, and he lays it out before you, is that I'm enticed or carried away by my own lust. And then he uses this picture of lust being a mother. It conceives. It gives birth to sin. And when sin is accomplished,
it brings forth death. Physical death, spiritual death, eternal death. So God says, the minute you eat from that fruit, you're going to die. They ate. They didn't, at that moment, die physically, though they began the process of dying, never designed to die. But they did die spiritually. Death means separation. They're separated from God.
And He said, don't be deceived. Don't be deceived. Don't be kidding yourself. This is the way it is. So the process is saying, well, here come these difficult things. Is that God that's doing that? He said, no, no, no. Don't be deceived in this process.
Every Good Gift Comes from God
Because every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from God above. From the Father of lights. He's writing to this Jewish audience. That would be a beautiful reminder and a picture of them to this ancient reference to God and who He is. The source of all light. Physical light. Spiritual light. Intellectual light.
With whom there's no variation or shifting shadow. There's something about God that is distinctly different than us. And that is, He does not change or grow. He's not bigger today than He was yesterday.
We are growing. We are developing. That's one of the things that happens when you see kids. Kids, especially as they're growing. When you are born, I learned this this week, your eyes are the same size they will be all your life. Your eyes never get bigger. Your nose and ears continue to grow all of your life. I thought it would be impressive for you to know that I knew that.
God's Unchanging Nature
I'm growing. So I'll see a kid or maybe you haven't seen a kid for like six months. You see a kid. You see them progressing. We are growing. We're growing intellectually. We're changing. We were this. We're now that. We're becoming better. We're becoming worse. But we're not staying constant.
But God is constant. He's immutable. He doesn't change. He did not produce a book that has an expiration date on it. A timeless God doesn't produce dated material. He's the same yesterday, today, forever.
Well, that is a source of great comfort. That means this God, who wasn't tempted or didn't tempt then, isn't tempted and doesn't tempt you now.
Born Again by God's Will
In the exercise of His will, He brought us forth by the word of truth so that we might be as it were first fruit among His creation. In an exercise of His will, that is, He chose us. He purposed us. He caused us to be born again. By the word of truth, it's the gospel message. So important.
And by the way, so freeing. That as you and I live this life and share this truth, it's not about you and me effectively evangelizing. It's about us being witnesses. Big difference there.
I was speaking in a church not long ago, and they were so proud of themselves because they were a soul-winning church. And I believe when I come into a place like this, for example, I'm a guest. I try to understand the best I can Janet and Jeff's expectation of me, what they want. They're very good, by the way. They never say, say this or do that. What are the times? So they'll say 15 minutes before the evening service. We'd like you to be back and pray. I try. I try to understand. I'm their guest. I try to hit the times. I'm a guest. I try to do that. I think it's important.
You Cannot Win a Soul
When you and I go out and they say it's a soul-winning church, I then didn't correct them, though they needed to be corrected. You cannot win a soul. If Janet and Susan are going out for coffee, and they sit down at a table, and there's two people next to them, and they begin a conversation, and Susan starts to talk to one of the gals, Janet to the other, and both lead to spiritual conversations, and it ends up with both of them sharing their testimony in the gospel. And the one that Janet is talking to said, I've been waiting all my life to hear this truth. The one Susan's talking to said, get away from me. Who at that moment is God happier with, Susan or Janet?
Well, the answer is neither. Happy with both of them because they were doing what God's called them to do. You've had the experience where you sit down with two or three friends, and you begin to share the gospel, and two of them tell you, hey, stick it in your ear, and the third one says, well, tell me more about that. Well, is that because the third one's smarter, brighter? They all heard the same words. No, God's working in that one person's heart.
God's the one who saved you. We need to recapture that our sin is big and that God saves us through grace, unmerited favor. Nothing you can do, will do. He didn't look at you and say, boy, I know someday, somewhere, they'll respond to the gospel. You would never respond to the gospel if God didn't change your heart.
Salvation is of the Lord
God is the one who saves. So we can say, praise be the glory to Him and to Him alone, because salvation is what? Of the Lord. We say this stuff, sing this stuff, but I don't think we close the deal and truly believe it. Before the foundations of the earth, He chose us. How does He communicate that? Through the word of truth, the gospel message. The same word of truth that saved you.
I have this little hang-up about a lot of classes. We keep teaching, so we got a class on evangelism. Here's the problem. I'm telling you the problem of that class. People are going to take it, learn a method, go out and try a method, or all of a sudden, somebody's going to ask them a question they don't know, and they're going to think they need another class.
You don't need another class. If you know enough to believe the gospel, you know enough to share the gospel. You may not know everything. I'm constantly saying I don't know. There's a whole bunch, especially at a conference like this, I'll get a lot of questions, technical questions. What do you think about? I don't know. I'm not that
The Problem of When
When is Jesus coming again? I find that it just doesn't even interest me. I have friends who read stacks of books on the second coming. Whatever, don't care. It's like a new earth, old earth. I'm not into that. I'm standing on it, whatever it is.
But that affects all the way you interpret scripture. No, it really doesn't. I believe in the literal translation and interpretation of scripture. But there's some of these things that are a little confusing. When He says, you're never going to know the day or the hour, my suspicion is I'm never going to figure out the day or the hour. So I got a finite number of brain cells, I'd rather watch Seinfeld.
The Real Battle
Here's the close. Here's what he's saying. In this process of God testing you, there is a temptation to think He's tempting you. He's not. But there is an evil one who will come and destroy you. And he is here to wreck havoc in your life. And he will do it, again, as a roaring lion or as an angel of light or as a subtle serpent. He'll do it.
But then James closes that loop. You remember every good thing comes down from the father of lights, the giver of light. No variation with Him. And evidence of His goodness, you. You're a display case for His good works.
Living Miracles
Want to see a miracle? I'll show you a miracle right now. I'm up for that. I'll show you a miracle right here. Because I was dead and now I'm alive. I hated God and everything about Him and now I love Him. He is more important to me than anything on earth.
I sent Susan a text the other day and I said, I love you more than anything except Jesus. And by the way, because I love Jesus more than her, I can love her more than I ever could humanly.
Marriage Advice
Some of you that are married, all of you have people who are coming to you for marriage advice. I was sharing it last night here and with the staff. When you're dealing with single people, here you go. Here's what you tell him. If you're talking to a girl, you say, here's what you want a guy. If you're talking to a guy, you say, here's what you want a girl. One thing.
One thing you want in that other person, that potential spouse. You want them to love Jesus more than they love you. Because you aren't always going to be lovable. And you're going to need somebody that infuses you with love.
What's Next
When we pick up tonight, we get in to the idea of now making this stuff real. And talking about true religion. And I make you a promise tonight. I'll bring my notes. I don't know where they are. We'll see what happens.
Father, take this time, now this free time that we have. And allow us to use it in a way that it brings honor and glory to You. We love You, really, for one simple reason. Because You first loved us. God, thank You for grace and mercy. Thank You that You are an unchanging God.
This could be a great afternoon, Father. Will You use it for families, a little bit of time together? For those who really are looking for some rest. Let them, well, let me change it. Let us have that rest. Father, I pray for the meeting at 4 o'clock. I hope that when the gals gather and Susan and Janet have an opportunity to share. That You'll use it in a powerful way. Father, do that, I ask it in Christ's name. Amen.