Post by Char on Oct 24, 2008 17:28:19 GMT -6
TEMPTATION NOT FROM GOD
JAMES 1:13-15
I. THE CHARACTER GIVEN OF GOD.
God cannot be tempted of evil. The absolute and infinite self-sufficiency of His blessedness. That blessedness is altogether independent of every other being whatever besides Himself. He can never have anything for which to hope; and never anything to fear. He is place beyond all such possibility by the absolute perfection of His moral nature, GOD CANNOT BE TEMPTED WITH EVIL. His nature is necessarily and infinitely opposed to every thing of the kind; and to such a nature what is sinful or impure never can present ought capable of exerting even the remotest influence.
Neither tempteth He any man. God tempts no man by any direct inward influence; by infusing evil thoughts, inclinations, and desires. God tempts no man, by presenting to him inducements, motives, persuasive, to sin. GOD TEMPTETH NOT ANY MAN by placing him in circumstances in which, he is laid under a natural necessity of sinning.
II. PROCEED WE NOW TO THE ADMONITION FOUNDED ON WHAT IS SAID OF GOD...LET NO MAN SAY, WHEN HE IS TEMPTED, I AM TEMPTED OF GOD; FOR GOD TEMPTED NO MAN.
To put it according to the order of thought we have chose to follow– 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. (VERSE 13). It is because every such thought of God is irreverent, that the saying is condemned as profane.
If conscience is allowed to speak in sincerity, its utterance will be– I am a voluntary sinner. No extraneous force has kept me back from good; no such force has compelled me to evil. I have followed my own inclinations.
Let the unbelieving sinner beware of imagining that the quilt of his rejecting the gospel lies anywhere else than with himself.
There is one view in which you would do well to remember GOD CANNOT BE TEMPTED WITH EVIL. He can never be induced to act, in any step of His procedure, inconsistently with any attribute of His character, or, in a single jot or tittle, to sacrifice the claims of the purest moral rectitude.
III. THE TRUE NATURE OF TEMPTATION.
BUT EVERY MAN IS TEMPTED, WHEN HE IS DRAWN AWAY OF HIS OWN LUST, AND ENTICED.
In this description temptation is to be understood as relating to the state of the mind between the moment of the first entrance of the sinful thought, and the actual commission of the evil;-- the state of the mind while the enticement is working within among the hidden desires and appetencies of the heart, exerting that its seductive influence.
EVERY MAN IS TEMPTED WHEN HE IS DRAWN AWAY OF HIS OWN LUST, this is evidently meant to be emphatic. ( attracting, special attention). It refers back to the preceding verse LET NO MAN SAY, I AM TEMPTED BY GOD; GOD TEMPTETH NOT ANY MAN.
The lust by which he is tempted, is not of God; it is HIS OWN LUST, and all evil that is in man is his own. Within our own hearts are seated many evil desires. The devil needs not introduce them.
From all the objects around us, that are fitted to gratify those desires, our senses are so many inlets of temptation to our hearts. Nor are even our senses necessary to the admission of temptation. The imagination can work independently of them. And both in waking and in sleeping hours, many a time is it busy in summoning tempting scenes before them.
In adversity, OUR OWN LUSTS may tempt us to CHARGE GOD FOOLISHLY, and that too both in our hearts and with our lips; and thus to give sinful indulgence to ungodly by tempers of mind. Then again, in the time of prosperity; OUR OWN LUST may often tempt us to the abuse of it.
IV. THE FEARFUL CONSEQUENCES OF YIELDING TO TEMPTATION– WHEN LUST HATH CONCEIVED.
The obvious meaning of the figurative allusion is, that when the evil desire is admitted into the mind, and, instead of being resisted, prayed against, and driven out, is retained, fostered, indulged, and through dwelling upon the object of it, grows in strength, and at length is fully matured, it will come forth in action.
As after the period of gestation and growth, the child in the womb comes to the .birth
The lust, having thus conceived, BRINGETH FORTH SIN; that is, produces practical transgression– sin in the life– actual departure from the way of God’s commandments. AND SIN, WHEN IT IS FINISHED, BRINGETH FORTH DEATH.
But the very language implies that the sin did not begin with the act; it is finished in the act. And the evil of the act concentrates in it all the precious evil of the thoughts, desires, and motives from which it arose, and by which it was ultimately matured into action.
The death that death which is THE WAGES OF SIN— follows on the commission of it, as surely as, in nature, the birth follows the conception.
V. THE IMPORTANCE OF FORMING AND CHERISHING RIGHT, AND OF AVAILING WRONG, CONCEPTIONS ON THE SUBJECT. VERSE 16.
DO NOT ERR, MY BELOVED BRETHREN.
It is as if the apostle had said–"Beware of mistakes here". And certainly there are few subjects on which it is of more essential consequence to have correct ideas, or on which misapprehensions are more perilous.
The thought that is specially reprobated in the passage which has been under review is one which cannot fail to affect all the principles, and feelings, and practices of the Christian life.
It affects our views of God; and these lie at the foundation of all religion.
Let believers be impressed with the necessity of unceasing vigilance over their own hearts. Their worst enemies are on their own bosoms. Let all consider the necessity of the heart being right with God.
It is only in a holy heart, a heart renewed by the spirit, a heart of which the lusts are laid under arrest, and crucified, that He can dwell.
Ponder seriously the certain consequences of unrepented and unforgiven sin; and by immediate recourse to the cross, and to the blood there shed for the remission of sins, shun the fearful end which otherwise awaits you.
James Shoemake.
JAMES 1:13-15
I. THE CHARACTER GIVEN OF GOD.
God cannot be tempted of evil. The absolute and infinite self-sufficiency of His blessedness. That blessedness is altogether independent of every other being whatever besides Himself. He can never have anything for which to hope; and never anything to fear. He is place beyond all such possibility by the absolute perfection of His moral nature, GOD CANNOT BE TEMPTED WITH EVIL. His nature is necessarily and infinitely opposed to every thing of the kind; and to such a nature what is sinful or impure never can present ought capable of exerting even the remotest influence.
Neither tempteth He any man. God tempts no man by any direct inward influence; by infusing evil thoughts, inclinations, and desires. God tempts no man, by presenting to him inducements, motives, persuasive, to sin. GOD TEMPTETH NOT ANY MAN by placing him in circumstances in which, he is laid under a natural necessity of sinning.
II. PROCEED WE NOW TO THE ADMONITION FOUNDED ON WHAT IS SAID OF GOD...LET NO MAN SAY, WHEN HE IS TEMPTED, I AM TEMPTED OF GOD; FOR GOD TEMPTED NO MAN.
To put it according to the order of thought we have chose to follow– 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. (VERSE 13). It is because every such thought of God is irreverent, that the saying is condemned as profane.
If conscience is allowed to speak in sincerity, its utterance will be– I am a voluntary sinner. No extraneous force has kept me back from good; no such force has compelled me to evil. I have followed my own inclinations.
Let the unbelieving sinner beware of imagining that the quilt of his rejecting the gospel lies anywhere else than with himself.
There is one view in which you would do well to remember GOD CANNOT BE TEMPTED WITH EVIL. He can never be induced to act, in any step of His procedure, inconsistently with any attribute of His character, or, in a single jot or tittle, to sacrifice the claims of the purest moral rectitude.
III. THE TRUE NATURE OF TEMPTATION.
BUT EVERY MAN IS TEMPTED, WHEN HE IS DRAWN AWAY OF HIS OWN LUST, AND ENTICED.
In this description temptation is to be understood as relating to the state of the mind between the moment of the first entrance of the sinful thought, and the actual commission of the evil;-- the state of the mind while the enticement is working within among the hidden desires and appetencies of the heart, exerting that its seductive influence.
EVERY MAN IS TEMPTED WHEN HE IS DRAWN AWAY OF HIS OWN LUST, this is evidently meant to be emphatic. ( attracting, special attention). It refers back to the preceding verse LET NO MAN SAY, I AM TEMPTED BY GOD; GOD TEMPTETH NOT ANY MAN.
The lust by which he is tempted, is not of God; it is HIS OWN LUST, and all evil that is in man is his own. Within our own hearts are seated many evil desires. The devil needs not introduce them.
From all the objects around us, that are fitted to gratify those desires, our senses are so many inlets of temptation to our hearts. Nor are even our senses necessary to the admission of temptation. The imagination can work independently of them. And both in waking and in sleeping hours, many a time is it busy in summoning tempting scenes before them.
In adversity, OUR OWN LUSTS may tempt us to CHARGE GOD FOOLISHLY, and that too both in our hearts and with our lips; and thus to give sinful indulgence to ungodly by tempers of mind. Then again, in the time of prosperity; OUR OWN LUST may often tempt us to the abuse of it.
IV. THE FEARFUL CONSEQUENCES OF YIELDING TO TEMPTATION– WHEN LUST HATH CONCEIVED.
The obvious meaning of the figurative allusion is, that when the evil desire is admitted into the mind, and, instead of being resisted, prayed against, and driven out, is retained, fostered, indulged, and through dwelling upon the object of it, grows in strength, and at length is fully matured, it will come forth in action.
As after the period of gestation and growth, the child in the womb comes to the .birth
The lust, having thus conceived, BRINGETH FORTH SIN; that is, produces practical transgression– sin in the life– actual departure from the way of God’s commandments. AND SIN, WHEN IT IS FINISHED, BRINGETH FORTH DEATH.
But the very language implies that the sin did not begin with the act; it is finished in the act. And the evil of the act concentrates in it all the precious evil of the thoughts, desires, and motives from which it arose, and by which it was ultimately matured into action.
The death that death which is THE WAGES OF SIN— follows on the commission of it, as surely as, in nature, the birth follows the conception.
V. THE IMPORTANCE OF FORMING AND CHERISHING RIGHT, AND OF AVAILING WRONG, CONCEPTIONS ON THE SUBJECT. VERSE 16.
DO NOT ERR, MY BELOVED BRETHREN.
It is as if the apostle had said–"Beware of mistakes here". And certainly there are few subjects on which it is of more essential consequence to have correct ideas, or on which misapprehensions are more perilous.
The thought that is specially reprobated in the passage which has been under review is one which cannot fail to affect all the principles, and feelings, and practices of the Christian life.
It affects our views of God; and these lie at the foundation of all religion.
Let believers be impressed with the necessity of unceasing vigilance over their own hearts. Their worst enemies are on their own bosoms. Let all consider the necessity of the heart being right with God.
It is only in a holy heart, a heart renewed by the spirit, a heart of which the lusts are laid under arrest, and crucified, that He can dwell.
Ponder seriously the certain consequences of unrepented and unforgiven sin; and by immediate recourse to the cross, and to the blood there shed for the remission of sins, shun the fearful end which otherwise awaits you.
James Shoemake.
