James 1:13  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
14  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
15  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
16  Do not err, my beloved brethren.
17  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
18  Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

In verses 13-14 God directed James to deal with the other side of temptation. We know from verse 12 and verse 2 that God tempts His children to try their faith. We noted in those passages that the temptation is trials. It is not the enticement to sin. It is the testing of our faith. It is designed to draw the saint closer to his Master.
James pointed out that true saints are not robots. We are saved through the blood of Jesus Christ. We are given a new nature. We have the capacity to please God. God sends trials our way to draw us closer to Himself. We need to put off the old man. The temptations that God sends to His children are designed for that purpose.
In verse 13 of our text, there is another type of temptation that is designed for the exact opposite purpose. God cannot be tempted to sin. He is holy. He is absolutely holy. There are people who want to suggest that Jesus Christ had an affair with Mary Magdalene. Some even go so far as to suggest there was a child born out of that. Jesus Christ is the second person of the Godhead. He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. We cannot relate to that because we are conceived in sin and we live in sin until we get saved. After that, we are still tempted to sin. Those who are saved have been blessed with the indwelling Holy Spirit. We can say no to any lust for sin. We can, but we do not always do so.
We live in a sin-cursed world. The devil has made sure that he makes the temptation to sin readily available to all people. He is very good at his wicked ways. Jesus warned that he is a murderer and a liar. No one will be able to blame the devil for their sin. God has made the way to change the course we are born in. That way is through repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. After we are saved we need to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In verse 14 we see that it is our lust that draws us into sin. In verse 15 we read that when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin. God used the illustration of conception here. When a woman conceives it produces a child. In the same sense, when the lust to sin is left unchecked, it brings forth sin. Every person would have to admit that they have been at a place where they were overcome with lust and they could not stop the actions that followed that. That is because we entertained the lust. Rather than reject it, we dwelt on it. We hear the phrase “I did not mean to do it”. God told James to write this to help us to understand the importance of drawing nigh to Him, if we are saved. We have noted before that this is done through faithful reading of God’s Word and meditating on God’s Word day and night. The world has so many things it puts in the way of that.
Those who are saved have the love of God in their heart and that love will work to draw the person closer to God.
God taught that there is a progression of sin. The desire to sin is the conception. The deed of sin is the birth and the result of that is death.
In verse 16 we are warned not to err. Notice again, that James is speaking to saints. He is speaking to those who have been saved. Sin cannot rule the saved person’s life. The temptation to sin will be there at times. It is important to follow what Paul wrote in I Corinthians 10:13. God will always have the way of escape when we sin. Paul wrote:

Romans 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

We, those who are saved, are never forced to sin. The ungodly cannot help but sin. The flesh is not able to fight off the temptation to sin. However, the saved person has the ability to turn away from temptation. The saved person is given that power at the new birth.
In verse 17 we see the context of that verse has to do with the actions of God. We already noted that God tempts us to strengthen our faith. He does not tempt us to sin. In verse 17 the trying of our faith is referred to as a good and perfect gift from above. God wants us to grow in Him. The person that chooses to sin, is looking to the devil for direction. God’s testing refines the true child of God. God never changes. He never does anything that will cause His child to sin. There is not even a shadow of turning with God. No one will ever be able to blame God for their sin. Adam tried that. It did not work. Eve followed Adam’s lead and she tried it as well, but she did not get away with it either.
In verse 18 we see that God saves us according to His own will. He does that with the “word of truth”. We see again how necessary it is to have God’s Word available to us. The perversions are not the “word of truth”. They are words of deception. Jesus warned of the disastrous effects of mixing good and evil.

Matthew 23:23  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

It is not for us to pick and choose which law of God we will follow and which we will ignore or reject. The saved person is given the ability to walk humbly with the Lord. He needs to submit himself to God’s will in all things.
Evil people do not know what good is. How can they do good? Pilate asked Jesus: “what is truth”. He had no idea what truth was because he rejected the God of Truth. Jesus Christ, the Truth, was standing right before him and he could not recognize that fact.
Those who are saved are begotten of God. It is His Work to save us. The first century saints had the distinct privilege of being the firstfruits of God’s salvation. The true saint cannot lose their salvation. The first century saints were to be the firstfruits of every creature. They would either be a blessing to future generations, or they would be a hindrance to other generations. There was a need then for true saints to behave like saints. There still is that same need today. God expects nothing less than obedience and holiness from His children. No, we do not always do that as we should. We have no justification for disobedience. We have many excuses. God laid it out very clearly here for us.
The Biblical fact is that no true child of God will always do all that God demands of him. We see throughout church history how corruption entered into the churches and how it has exploded over the centuries. We are living at a time when many professing Christians have given up on purity. They have chosen to believe we cannot know the truth so we just need to do our best with what we have.
The truth is that God has preserved His Word for every generation. We can look at church history, but we always need to take God’s Word as our authority. We will be judged according to God’s Word. That is the absolute standard. Those who are saved have the ability to meet that righteous standard. We noted in our study of I Corinthians that the apostle Paul stated we are to follow him as he followed Christ. God’s Word is the sure standard. Be sure you are saved and then put His Word first in your life.
Pastor Bartel