JAMES - index 

Introduction  Lesson 1  Lesson 2  Lesson 3  Lesson 4  Lesson 5 

Lesson 6  Lesson 7  Lesson 8  Lesson 9  Lesson 10  Lesson 11

LESSON 2:

James 1:13-27

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.

14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.

15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.

17 Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow.

18 In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we might be, as it were, the first fruits among His creatures.

19 This you know, my beloved brethren. But let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;

20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.

21 Therefore putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;

24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.

25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does.

26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.

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Key Verse:

James 1:22

"But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves."

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INTRODUCTION

A. Historic background

1. Hebrew believers of the First Century had long been tied to the Mosaic law prior to their conversion. Also, a body of tradition had developed and had been imposed on them. Now in Christ they found liberty, liberty from the foolish traditions of men, liberty from the ceremonial aspects of the Law, even liberty from the attempt of the Law to impose morality by legislation alone.

2. Scattered abroad by persecution, they found themselves in Gentile surroundings-- immoral, sensual, pagan. Cut loose from strong, strict Jewish society, and enjoying release from legalism, they were in real danger of slipping into antinomianism. Liberty could easily become license. They were under real temptation to moral evil, to commit sin.

B. Current background

1. Do we live in a morally strict society? Does the world system surrounding us provide moral strength and spiritual inspiration? The answer to both questions is not hard to find.

2. Like the First Century Jewish believers, we also are fully human and subject to desires, feelings and impulses. Often these clamour for control. How do we cope with them? James makes clear that as believers we are born of God. We are His. Therefore we adhere to His word and do it. We exercise the discipline and demonstrate in practice the love that saving grace produces and that is the evidence of genuine religion.

I. What is going on inside of us? (James 1:13-15)

A. Because God created us, is He therefore responsible for the temptations that arise from the physical and psychological nature He has given us? In other words, by creating us with desires, is God our ultimate, real Tempter? Thus some might rationalize.

B. God does not tempt, because that would be contrary to His character. He is love, and love works no ill. In fact, so true is His love that He is never tempted to evil, that is, to act and choose contrary to His love for us. For that reason He would never tempt us to do evil, as that would be contrary to both His and our good.

C. Temptation results when natural, God-given desires appeal to us for excessive, unnatural, harmful, and therefore unreasonable gratification (food, sex, etc.). This arises within our own nature when some object stimulates our natural desires or promotes an artificial desire (alcohol and narcotics).

D. If we do not yield to this appeal for unreasonable indulgence, no sin results and our desires are kept within their natural boundaries to serve their natural purposes. But when the will consents to the unreasonable indulgence or indulgences, sin begins. The desire or desires reign. This is "minding" or giving one's purposeful attention to the flesh (Romans 8:5).

E. Sin does not bring its full result at once. Even so, its final product is death. The deliberate, conscious yielding is the conception. Continuing in sin is the period of its gestation. At last it gives birth to death. This is in contrast to the "perfect result" of an enduring faith (verse 4). Sometimes the "conceiving" takes place in the heart long before it becomes evident in the life. Such was the case of Judas Iscariot, whose love of money existed long before it revealed itself in selling Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. That, too, resulted in death (Matthew 27:5). Also, Demas loved this present world before that commitment expressed itself in his forsaking Paul (2 Timothy 4:10).

II. Warning against a false philosophy (1:16-25).

A. If one's premise is wrong, the system of thought built upon that premise will lead to a wrong conclusion.

B. God did not create us with an evil nature. Therefore our temptations do not come from Him. His gifts are wholesome, including the ones that people abuse and pervert.

C. God, the Giver of every good gift, is immutable. His good and beneficent purpose in creation does not change. Man perverts the use of God's gifts to serve his own desires, but that does not change God. Morality does not change to reflect human consensus. Morality is changeless because it is grounded in the immutable nature of God. He is the Father of lights. "God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all." (1 John 1:5).

D. Believers are born of God. He is the Father of lights. Therefore whatever is born of Him abides in light. The new birth involves a change. Because God and His will are unchanging, therefore the change is in us, not in God. The new birth is a moral change. The Holy Spirit applied the word of truth to bring our hearts into conformity to the will and character of God as revealed in that word. Thus God changed us from disobedience to obedience, from darkness to light, from disconformity to conformity to the unchanging word of the unchanging God. The result of necessity is a volitional response, a behavior consistent with the truth by which God has begotten us according to His will. "By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." (Hebrews 10:10).

E. God's design in begetting us with the word of truth is that we be "the first fruits among His creatures." (vs. 18). He has predestined us "to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren." (Romans 8:29). Of all creation, what God is after is an elect, sanctified people for His eternal glory and fellowship.

F. This begetting by the word of truth to fruitfullness stands in direct contrast to the conceiving of sin that brings forth death.

G. If God's purpose in sanctifying us by the word is to be fulfilled, we must remain in conformity to that word. It must abide in us. We must listen to the word. We must look into it diligently. We must guard our words. We must bring our human spirit under the discipline of the word, because human wrath does not produce God's righteousness (and His righteousness in us is His purpose for us).

III. Character is what counts (1:26,27).

A. Many are deceived as to what constitutes true religion. To some it consists in certain emotions. To others it is a set of correct doctrinal positions. Yet others view religion as a code of conduct. The Scriptures teach that it consists in heart-conformity to the truth, exhibited in practical behavior.

B. Because the mouth speaks from the abundance of the heart (Matthew 12:34), an unbridled tongue reveals an unregenerate heart. Whatever religion such a person might have is spurious. He deceives his heart with it. The more valid it seems to be, the greater is the deception.

C. True religion is a matter of love. Jesus said that to love God with all the heart and one's neighbor as himself is the essence of morality and hence of true faith. Only this is acceptable to God. It demonstrates its genuineness in two ways: the practice of love to others and separation from the world.

CONCLUSION

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POINTS TO PONDER:

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l. If God created us with inner emotional drives, is it not natural and proper to obey these drives?

2. Why did God create us with these inner drives since these drives lead so many to sin?

3. What does it mean for lust to conceive?

4. Why does James refer to the immutability of God in relationship to the new birth?

5. What part does the word of truth have in the new birth?

6. If no moral change has taken place in a person, is that person truly born again?

7. What is the "perfect law, the law of liberty"?

8. What does it mean for the word of God to be engrafted or emplanted?

9. Once it is emplanted, what is the action of the word of God in our lives?