Willow Ridge Sermons

Sunday, September 18th • Beau Bradberry

"Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one." — James 1:13

–
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Show Notes

Sunday, September 18th • Beau Bradberry

"Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one." — James 1:13

–
Podcast: https://pod.link/willowridgechurch
Website: https://willowridgechurch.org
Instagram: https://instagram.com/willowridgechurch
Facebook: https://facebook.com/willowridgechurch
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@willowridgechurch

Creators and Guests

Host

Beau Bradberry

Senior Pastor

What is Willow Ridge Sermons?

Sermon audio from Sunday services at Willow Ridge Church.

Hi, and welcome to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast.

This is where you can find audio for our current and past sermons.

We hope that you enjoy this week's installment, and be sure to check back next week to hear

the latest message.

Thanks for listening.

Good morning.

Glad that you guys are with us today.

If you've got your Bible, go on, open them up to James chapter 1 here in just a moment.

We're going to start reading in verse 13.

If you don't have a Bible and you would like one, at the end of the service, we've got

some free Bibles on the back table back here to my left.

We'd love for you to come and grab one as our gift to you so that you can dive in and study

God's Word with us each and every Sunday and apart from us.

And so I want to encourage you to do that.

A lot of things that are going on around our church in the ministry, in our ministries that

are taking place here at Willow Ridge.

We've got our women's ministry that's leading out and serving in missions.

We've got a group of our men's ministry that's going to be doing man camp, just wonderful

opportunities to connect.

We've got our baptism class.

We've got our baby steps classes coming up.

A lot of things.

So I just want to encourage you with where you are.

If there's anything that kind of sparked your interest in that, if you've got any questions

about that, come by and see us.

We would love to explain those, give you some more details as we continue to see all that

God is doing.

Well, so today I heard from a lot of people that didn't expect to see me here today, thought

I was going to be in India right now.

I'm not in India right now, obviously, unless we like upgraded our video system, right?

And I'm just a hologram, right?

Is that where we're going today?

But we'll be leaving after church today to drive to Atlanta.

I'll be leading a very small group of pastors in our state and a handful of lay leaders from

some different congregations to go to India.

And so I want to encourage you this week to be praying for the work that's there.

As much as we can, we're going to update about the things that are going on, but just be able

to share some of the details.

We're going to be leading a pastor's conference, number one.

That's a lot of what we're going to be doing.

So we're going there to teach through me and another pastor are going to be teaching through

the book of 2 Timothy.

And so looking forward to spending some time and doing that.

A little less preaching, a lot more teaching.

And so kind of like what we got to watch our professors do in seminary, we get to do there.

And so we're excited about that.

This will be the second time that we'll be able to, that I'll be able to participate in

a Bible college graduation.

And so I just want to let you pray for that.

It's a wonderful opportunity.

And the last time I was there, the weight of what was taking place hit me as we're sending

out these men to go plant their churches and where God's called them to go and to plant.

And if you're watching anything with what's happening within the church in India right

now, as we talked about persecution last week, the persecution is getting stronger and

stronger, especially in Northern India where we are.

And so we recognize that as we send these men out into the field, that oftentimes what awaits

them is a high level of persecution.

And so it's both an honor and humbling to be able to participate with that.

But then we're also going to be visiting some new potential ministry sites.

And so the hope is to be able to see how we can mobilize more people into an area right now

that that's very difficult to do ministry.

Just, you know, some questions that come up.

Is it illegal to be in India and be a Christian?

No, it's not illegal to be a Christian in India.

But it is illegal, all right, to share your faith and the goal of seeing someone come to

know Christ.

And in fact, one of the things that this is kind of shaken out in India right now is if

a man and woman are married and they're both followers of Jesus Christ, the husband and

the wife are, and they have a child, that child in the concept of the leadership who is there

is born Hindu and not born anything else.

And so for them to bring their child to church, to share the gospel with them, even within their

own home, is illegal, right?

And so the goal is for this last generation of Christianity to end that.

But we know and believe that God's got a greater plan.

And so thank you guys as we support the ministries there financially and as we can support with

mobilization.

So thank you all for doing what you do.

So just pray for the work that's being done.

Pray for our families that don't get to go with us.

I got to laugh to cut out the awkward moment of me getting choked up.

But it's always hard when you leave your spouse and your kids behind and you know what they

do so that you can go and do the work that God has you.

So thank you, Aaron and Grayson, for letting me do what God calls us to do.

So pray for our families as well.

We're going to continue on in our series in James.

So let's start reading James chapter one, verse 13.

Continue on.

It says, let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God for God cannot be

tempted with evil.

And he himself tempts no one, but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his

own desire.

Then desire, when it is conceived, gives birth to sin and sin, when it is fully grown, brings

forth death.

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of lights

with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first

fruits of his creature.

So last week we began our series in James and James letter begins with a super quick greeting,

right?

It's just verse one.

And then James jumps right into it.

Sometimes when you're reading through, especially like Paul's letters and even like first Peter,

you'll get this, this greeting.

And then what comes after that is like a continuation of the greeting.

And so sometimes it's a prayer that's listed there.

There's a blessing that's listed there, but that's not what James does here.

James says, all right, hey, here's who I am, who is who I represent in the Lord.

And then this is who I'm sending this to, right?

And then he goes right into it.

And when we look at the book of James, James is a very practical book of the Bible, maybe

the most practical in the New Testament, right?

We talked about this last week.

There's 108 verses in James and in those 108 verses, 59 of them are direct commandments

from James to the church, right?

And James starts big.

So James is like, I'm not going to kind of go through and do prayers, do blessings in

this.

I'm going to say, here's who I am.

And then boom, we're going to, we're going to get into this.

And then last week where he's, where he's meeting this church with what they're facing

and what we're going through, he begins by encouraging them in their faith in trials.

So, so this is what they're going through.

So James is writing largely to an audience who has been forced to flee their homes, right?

Due to difficult persecution, right?

There's, there's, there's, there's killings that are, that are happening.

There's executions that are taking place.

There's imprisonment.

There's beatings.

There's, there's men and women who have lost their businesses, lost their homes, lost their

families.

All of this is taking place.

And James writes in that, in a bit of encouragement for them to, to persevere.

And then what he does, like verse two, starting it right off, he says, count all of this joy,

count all of it joy.

Like when you face these trials, like count it a blessing that you're facing what, what

you're, you're facing.

And he doesn't say, because we enjoy the pain, because we enjoy the misery, because we enjoy

the suffering.

He says, no, no, no, because God is working in it.

It's not that God is working apart from it, right?

Like sometimes I think we think like, while we're going through this, this battle, like

God has, has left us and forsaken us.

And we know that God's working, but we, we think maybe, well, God's just working over

there where, where it's easier on them and, and they're not having to go through and they're

not having to battle through this.

And James is like, no, no, no, no, no, no.

God is working right in the, the trial and what he's doing as we persevere through that

of what God is doing is that God's going to bring a particular blessing, right?

For those who are going through it, he's going to build within us this type of perseverance,

this type of endurance that would not be capable.

He's, God's going to bring through it a strengthening of faith that would not be possible if spiritually

speaking, we were like sitting on a couch, eating grapes, watching TV, right?

Like that's, that's not what it's about.

He's like, no, no, no, it's going to be this grueling battle and God's working through

that.

So he begins with, with that.

But then today what we're going to see in verse 13, what we just read is he's going

to move from trials, right?

To temptations and trials and temptations are both difficult seasons to go through, but

they're also different seasons to go through.

And so where we talk about faith and, and trials this, this weekend and, and honestly spilling

over into next week, we're going to look at like obedience in temptation, obedience in temptation.

So I'm excited.

Next Sunday morning, I'll get to preach in India.

And so I'm going to continue on with where we are as a church in James and preaching that.

And, and, and we have a Dr. Shane Parker is going to be here and he's going to preach for

us as, as our church.

And he's going to continue on in this with us as well, as we see that this layer of obedience

that God calls us to.

And so what I want us to get to this morning, as we think through trials last week, temptation

this week is, is what's the difference between a trial and temptation?

What, what's the difference for, for what we have as we walk through this in our life?

And so I read, uh, somebody else who, who talked about this all, and then this is a very good

simple picture of what this looks like in our, in our life.

And so this, this author, as he talked about this, said, you know, a trial is largely going

to be seen as an outside force that that's beyond an individual's control.

Something that happens outside of us that, that greatly impacts us and, and it can impact

us internally, right?

But it's an outside force going through this trial that, that does this not, not always,

but, but mostly.

And so we can think of everything from like sickness and, and battles that we face through

that to, to hostile criticism, right?

Like unfair criticism or words being spoken about us that aren't true all the way to the

deepest, hardest layers of persecution of our faith.

Like these are the trials that we walk through, but then a temptation, what we're going to see

is going to be more of an internal struggle that a person has, right?

Even if the temptation manifests itself in the physical world, as it often does, but it's

going to come from an internal struggle that we face.

Now, now here's what I've, I've just kind of noticed lots of times trials are obviously,

are obvious for other people to see often.

Oftentimes it's, it's people can recognize the trials that we go through because they see

those, but the internal temptations that we face can often be the ones that we face isolated

and alone because they're not seen.

And if we struggle with being transparent with what this looks like in our life, right?

Then oftentimes that can even more so hide the, the battle of the temptations that we face.

And so we're looking at temptations.

And so the first part I want to see when we look at verse 13 is this, that temptation is

part of the Christian life.

Temptation is part of the Christian life.

Look back at verse 13 with me.

James writes and says, let no one say when he is tempted, I'm being tempted by God.

For God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one.

That first part of that sentence there, let no one say when, when.

So if you're like me and you like to write in your Bible, like when is a word to underline

right here as a moment for us, right?

When it's going to happen, it's going to take place.

Now, as we battle through, as we face temptations in our life, oftentimes you and I, when we face

these temptations, we see them as huge moral failures to be ashamed of, right?

Like, let's do this.

Like, let's go around the room right now.

All right.

One at a time.

We got time, right?

We got, I don't know why I looked at my wrist.

I don't have a watch on.

We got time, right?

All right.

What is your greatest temptation?

And you have to be honest.

If not, electroshock therapy is going to happen, right?

Like, let's do that right now.

All right.

Chad Fry.

What is, I'm just kidding, buddy.

I'm just kidding.

Right?

You're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

I'm not sure about that.

And all the guests were like, we will not be here next week.

You know?

Right?

We can feel that in that temptation, right?

That there's this shame that is, that is there as we face these battles of, of temptation.

And, and, and, and, and that's not the case.

That's not the case.

That's not what we're going to see from scripture.

James is going to give a command here in verse 13.

And his command is not don't be tempted.

His command is when you're tempted, don't say this is from God.

And the words that are used there is like this aggressive tone that's used, you know?

Like, like this, this deflecting aggressive.

It's like when someone comes up to you at work and they're like, did you do this?

You're like, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I didn't do this.

Somebody else did it.

Right?

Under the bus right there.

What James is saying here is you, you don't do that with God.

When, when you're tempted, you do not say that this is from him.

But, but how do we walk through the, the, the reality that, that when we face temptation,

that is going to happen, that is part of the Christian life.

Well, well, Matthew four, just several months ago, we will do this, right?

Right.

Jesus was tempted.

Jesus was tempted and what's remarkable about it.

And we talked about this, uh, and I'm not going to re-preach through a message we've already

done, but, but, but Jesus was tempted with good things.

Jesus was tempted with food, with God's protection, the kingdom.

Jesus is tempted with these, with these good things.

So, so the issue is not that you're going to be tempted or that you are being tempted.

You will be, and you are.

The, the issue is, right, and this is what we're going to get to is, is who do you blame

for your temptation?

When, when you're sitting there and you're, you're walking through these, these battles

and these situations and these moments of both weakness and strength, like who do we look

at and say, well, well, I gotta, I gotta point the finger at somebody.

So, so who's it's going to be, right?

But, but it's not from God.

It's not from God.

The, the, the goal of temptation is to bring you to sin.

That's it.

That's what temptation wants to do, right?

Whether it's finances, whether it's food, whether it's sex, whether it's gossip, the goal of

temptation is to bring you and I to sin.

And, and God never desires that for you.

Never.

I think sometimes we take our passive feelings on sin and we oppose, we, we, we, we, we put

those on God.

And, and, and let me say this.

God is not passive against your sin.

God is not passive toward my sin.

God desperately hates sin because it's sin that separates us from him.

It's sin for why this world is broken.

It's sin that brings in the destruction.

It's sin that brings in all of these battles that we face.

Like, like get on the internet, open up the newspaper, cut on the TV and look at all of the issues

in all of the battles, in all of the death, in all of the destruction and everything that's

going on in the world, whether it's the United States or India or anywhere between.

And here's the issue.

Sin, sin, sin, sin, sin.

God hates sin because sin separates God from people.

And God hates sin so much, right?

The payment of his sin, for sin, for our sin was not, was not me.

It's not you.

It's Jesus.

God's only son.

Like, I don't know about you, but I'd be willing to bet that everyone in here that has someone

that they care about and that they love, and particularly if God has blessed you with a

child, when all the people of this world that you can think of, that your relationship is

broken with them because of a sin that they've committed against you, if that relationship

could be restored, but it was going to cause the death of your child.

I'd be willing to bet there's not a one of us that would sign up for it, but God sent

his son, Jesus, to die because of sin.

So we can't blame God for temptation.

So let's look at verse 14 and understand that your temptation is from your desire, right?

Your temptation is from your desire.

Verse 14, but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

So here's what we get to come to this morning.

Here's the not so feel good part of the message today, that you and I, we are the source of

our own temptation, right?

So as you and I got up this morning, my alarm somehow got massively way too loud this morning

at 515.

I'm sorry, Aaron.

Like it was way too loud.

And I walked in with the sleep in my eye, my hair going everywhere and splashed some water

on my face in my sink.

And that man that I looked at this morning is where the battle lies in my fight against temptation.

I can't blame you.

I can't blame anyone else.

Definitely can't blame the Lord.

I got to look at that guy, me, and so do you.

And that's where the battle's going to lie.

James writes and he says that our temptation, that it lures and entices us, or the words translated

when they're put together, that it drags us away.

It drags us away.

So what James is writing to the church there is he says, here's what your temptation wants

to do as you're looking to Jesus, desiring God's will, living for the gospel, what temptation

wants to do is drag you away from that.

And at first, if you've ever had to pull something away from something else, right?

Let's say like you're walking a dog on a leash, you know, and there's the fence where the other

dog is, they just want to bark and they want to fight, they want to yell.

You know that at first it's really hard to pull that dog away.

But the farther you get from the fence, the less hard it is to pull that dog, right?

And eventually that dog will just start trotting in that direction.

That's what temptation will do, what temptation wants to do.

That at that beginning, when we're fighting it, we're realizing it, and it's harder and harder.

The temptation works in the way that the farther it can get from our eyes being focused on what

God has for us, right?

What God longs for us, the easier it is for us just to begin to wander.

And that's how sin begins to build and build and build, right?

And here's what happens.

Here's what's scary, right?

And we're going to look at different types of temptation and different things with it, right?

But temptation often takes what is good, right, and turns it sinful.

Takes what is good and turns it sinful, right?

This was the attempt with Jesus, right?

Jesus was tempted, his first temptation was tempted with food, right?

He was tempted with food.

And we're not talking about like mine and your temptation of food, right?

Like, if you want to know what temptation looks like for me concerning food, it's called the

buffet at a cruise, right?

Like 24 hours a day, the whole time while you're there, you want a quesadilla with a side of

scrambled eggs, and you can go get it and then put a soft serve ice cream cone on top of it,

right?

Like, that's real.

That's my moment with you guys, right?

But Jesus was tempted with food after 40 days of fasting, 40 days of this.

And so it takes what should be right, what should be good, right?

But temptation begins to oftentimes twist it into different ways.

So I want to give an example of how this can play out in your life and mine.

Now, I don't know whether y'all watch the news or not, but I know a lot of us do, or at

least we have a coworker that feels like they need to inform us every day of what the news

is talking about, right?

And there's a word that's being talked about right now, and we're not, this is a hot button

issue.

We're not going to, after the service, we're not going to break into small groups and give

our own opinions about this, but I do want to talk about it, and it's the word debt, and

there's a certain kind of debt, all right?

That's a big issue right now, and people can differ on this.

But what I have found, what I have noticed, right, in the life of debt is that there's so

many of us, right?

And there's a very small percentage of people who live in the United States who are

a wonderful description of what is known as debt-free, right?

They have no debt, none whatsoever.

And most people, right, they have a certain amount of debt that they have.

And so, but we could all agree, everyone in here that has debt, financial debt, if you

would like to no longer have financial debt, right, you'd be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's

good, I'll sign me up, I'll take that, right?

Like, if I won the lottery, which would have to be a miracle, because just looking at those

scratch-off cards gives me anxiety, right?

Wouldn't know where to begin, right?

But if I won the whatever it is, billions of dollars, and said, right, I'll pay off your

debt, we'd all, like, sign up for that, right?

But if we are going to do that without the lottery, if we're going to do that in through

our own means, we have to acknowledge that being debt-free is hard work.

It's something that Aaron and I continue to look at and evaluate each year, how can we

get more and more financially independent?

So let's play out a hypothetical.

Let's say that you're someone that has debt, and you go to a Dave Ramsey conference, right?

Dave Ramsey likes to talk about how to get people debt-free, the snowball, how that works,

how that builds, it works, it's a fantastic, wonderful program, and you walk out of that

conference, and you're like, you know what?

I'm going to be debt-free.

Me and my family are going to set these goals, and we're going to work to achieve them, and

we're going to work hard and see this financial snowball build and build and build to wherever

we're able to pay off things, and we're going to bless people, and we're going to go on

mission trips, and we're going to support missionaries, and we're going to give to our local

food pantry, and we're going to do all of these things because we are now debt-free.

And we can't do these things, right, because of how strapped we are to this financial burden.

And then you go and you sit down behind your computer, and you get out your expenses and

your bills, and you put them all out onto a spreadsheet.

And at the end of that spreadsheet, when you hit the total on the number of money of what

you live off of, you come to the end of that, and you say, well, I've got $50, and it's going

to be really hard to pay off my $75,000 truck by adding $50 a month to the payment, right?

So if it's not going to happen, it's going to be sacrifice.

You're going to have to take things that you were doing that maybe were luxuries and cut

them out and no longer do those things.

Now, sacrifice is hard, right?

Like, no one ever says, like, hey, here's your birthday present.

It's sacrifice, yay, right?

Like, no, no one's usually, hey, sign me up for that, right?

Right.

So this desire to be debt-free in the reality of the work that it's going to take begins to settle.

And when it begins to take over, it becomes a sinful desire.

Yeah, I might tell you that my desire is to be debt-free, but really my desire is to be

financially lazy.

I may say that my desire is to be debt-free, but really my desire is to be greedy, that

I just want more and more that's for me.

So I sit down over that spreadsheet, and instead of knocking out some of the other things that

I see that I don't need to be spending money on, instead, you know, I say, you know what?

I'm going to stop giving.

I'm going to stop tithing.

Or maybe I'm going to just start tithing less and not honor God with my first fruits of

my finances.

Well, you know, tax season is coming up, and I got paid by cash with this, and there are

these things that I can mess around with and move, and you know, they've got enough money

anyways, right?

So I'm just going to cut corners.

I'm going to just lie.

You know, my wife and I, when we made this budget together, we decided that we needed marriage

enrichment.

And so we put this money in to go out on dates and to do things together, and God's really

honored and blessed that.

But you know what?

I'm just going to cut that out, too.

I'm going to move that or cut that in half.

You know, instead of, at my business, instead of quoting people the price that is the price,

I'm going to start quoting people a price that's not the price.

And I'm going to start skimming off the top a little bit, because, right, all of this is

just to be debt-free.

You see, the desire that may have been good before was the desire to be debt-free, but the

sinful desire that began to take over was greed that began to consume and consume and consume,

right?

And now our ultimate desire was not to be debt-free.

Our ultimate desire was not to give more to God's work.

Our ultimate desire was not to bless people.

Our ultimate desire was, how could I have more?

Our ultimate desire was, how can I live in the greed that I want?

And so temptation comes from your and my desire of how do we take this?

And so then what James gives us is he gives us what I've called the death cycle of temptation.

We look at verse 15.

Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin.

And sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.

And so James writes in this verse is, here's how temptation works.

And he uses, in the original language, a very vivid imagery of a husband and a wife conceiving

a child and giving birth to that child.

But what is born is not alive, but what is born is death.

And so this desire, it comes and it lures you and it seduces you.

It's the picture.

And then here's the decision.

Do I resist and fight and lean into the Lord and lean into God as Jesus did, right?

And I want you, when you think back about Matthew 4, and if you want to go read this afterwards,

what Jesus did every single time in Matthew chapter 4, when he was tempted,

he leaned in and he pressed in on the word of God through Jesus's intimate knowledge and relationship of the Father.

And that's how he resisted.

So the lure of this world came after him and Jesus pressed more, not into this false intimacy that sin wants to bring,

but into the intimacy with the Father.

So when sinful desires come, the question for us is, are you going to choose,

am I going to choose sinful intimacy or spiritual intimacy with the Father?

Well, what am I going to connect myself?

What am I going to become interwoven with?

Is it God?

Is it sin?

And so James says, when you choose the sinful way,

it's as if you've laid down and conceived a child with it.

Nothing more intimate, nothing more precious than that.

And James says, this is what this becomes.

And then the sinful desires, right?

It promises what it will not fulfill.

And it doesn't bring life.

Instead, it brings death.

It brings death.

Church, God is so good to us.

It amazes me every time that I open God's word.

It amazes me to see how God lays out how we should live in a way that glorifies him

and what it looks like for us to then be blessed in the relationship that we have.

And in so many different aspects of our life, God is so good to us.

We come to God and say, God, how do I manage my finances?

And God says, well, do it my way and be blessed.

We say, God, how do I live in a marriage that glorifies you?

And God says, do it my way and be blessed.

We have so many people that say, God, I'm fighting this battle in singleness right now, right?

And if you've forgotten, if you've been married for a while,

let me tell you, our brothers and sisters in Christ who are single,

it is a battle that they face every day.

It's not that they're not happy, but it creates its own set of circumstances for it.

And God says, look, I've called you.

I have right now in this season of life singleness for you.

Do it my way and be blessed.

God, I've got kids.

What does that look like?

What does that mean?

God says, do it my way and be blessed.

God gives us sex, husband, wife.

That's it in those parameters.

God says, do it my way and be blessed.

God gives us a body that we have on this earth to carry us through this life.

And God says, do it my way and be blessed.

We have aspects with business and our jobs and how we're supposed to work

and how we're supposed to submit to authorities

and how we're supposed to lead those who are under us.

And God says, do it my way and be blessed.

That's what it means.

The problem is, with you and with me,

this isn't a message of pointing fingers at you.

This is the message of what God's doing in my life as well.

When trials come in those areas, and they will, and they will.

Have I had a trial in my marriage?

Absolutely.

Have I had a trial with my kids?

Absolutely.

Have I had a trial in my finances?

Absolutely.

Have I had a trial in my career?

Absolutely.

When trials come, and they do,

do we land in our definition of what it means to be blessed?

Some U.S. Western culture version of what it means to succeed in life?

Or do we rest in who God says it means to be blessed and to be blessed and found in him?

But when we face this, we're going to be blessed.

say, forget about God's way that leads to death.

And when we choose it, that's where it leads.

So when we face temptations, because they're going to come.

When we face temptation, when we're in that season, and we're walking that line, and we begin to feel our neck being pulled to somewhere else, right?

What do we, what do we remember?

What do we cling to?

What do we, what do we do?

And I would say we remember God's good and perfect gifts.

Let's start in verse 16.

Do not be deceived, my fellow brothers.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Of his own will, he brought us forth by the truth of the word, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

God says, James says, reminder here, don't, don't be deceived.

Don't be deceived, because back at the beginning, the battle of temptation you were going through, this isn't God.

When God is, when we think that God is our source of temptation, of trying to catch us in a moment of weakness, we run from him instead of running to him.

We run from truth, and we run to shame.

It's not God.

That God doesn't send the temptation, but what he gives us is every good and perfect gift.

He doesn't send that that we'll seek to kill and to destroy.

Instead, he sends kindness and helpfulness and joy and purity, and God wants to see you and I grow, even if that means through difficulty.

And so why?

Why does God care?

Look at verse 18.

For of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

Right?

The beautiful choice of God.

God chose to give us birth.

God chose us.

We were not a hand that he was dealt, that he was told to deal with.

God chose us.

And in choosing us, God chooses to bring us into his family.

God chose to send his son.

God chooses to save us.

And he chooses to work in us, producing something in us that blesses us, that glorifies him, and that brings others to him.

The word that is used, that we should be a kind of first fruits.

Now, this concept of first fruits is used all throughout scripture, right?

It was used as the first portion of the harvest, which God's people were to bring to him as sacrifice.

But also the word first fruits would be the word that was used in the agricultural world.

And so if you were there and you had a crop that was going to produce, when you begin to see fruit develop on the vine,

when you begin to see fruit develop on the branches, those first handful of ones that were there,

those were known as the first fruits.

And they were supposed to be a representation of the fruit that was to come.

Well, y'all know we got a garden.

And I love when Aaron says that first tomato is coming off the vine today.

Because here's what I know, because God loves me.

God gives me two things to go with that tomato.

He gives me toast and he gives me Duke's mayonnaise, right?

Amen.

And I'm sorry, I forgot and I didn't mean to.

And a healthy, unhealthy portion of salt and pepper to go on it, right?

And nothing is more exciting than sitting down on that Saturday morning and slicing up that tomato and having it on the piece of bread.

And some of you who aren't from the South, you're like, but I don't know what you're talking about.

Just walk with me and try it, right?

And you'll understand.

And what begins to happen and take place in my mind moving from that Saturday forward is,

I now know what I'm going to be eating for lunch on Saturdays, right?

Because it's a taste of what's to come.

It's a taste of what's there.

But I know that that tomato that came off is not going to be the one and only tomato, but there's going to be more and more tomatoes.

And so what God says here, that we, that you and I, as we fight against the temptation and to keep our eyes locked on him,

that we should be this kind of special, of first fruits that the world sees.

That the world sees.

And we point to what's to come, that we point to the kingdom, that we point to Jesus,

that as they taste a little bit of the sweetness that is the gospel in our lives,

it points them to what they don't have because they don't know Jesus.

And it points us to him and who he is.

And so God says that he sends these down for a purpose and for a reason for these first fruits.

And so James has given us two pictures, two pictures in these handful of verses.

And I want to ask you this this morning, and we'll close with this.

Which one of these pictures does your life represent right now?

The picture that we just talked about.

Does your life in the battle of the trials and the temptations that you're going through,

does it reflect a tangible experience, first fruit, that is so ripe and ready out of your relationship with the Lord?

Oh, it's good.

It's good.

Or the other picture.

It's the one that's more grim.

It's the picture of intimacy.

But intimacy of a person with sin.

And what happens is that what's produced from that is not life.

But it's death.

It's death to those who are around them.

It's death to the relationships that they face.

And it's death eternally for the life not found in Christ.

Which one marks your life?

Would you pray with me?

Lord, we thank you so much for this time that we could dive into your word.

Lord, we thank you.

We thank you.

Lord, that you do not leave us.

Lord, that you do not forsake us.

Lord, I pray that as we face the battles and the temptations of this life,

Lord, that we would do as Christ did.

And cling to the truth of God's word.

Cling to the intimacy of the relationship that we have.

Lord, remind us of the desires that are in us.

Lord, in the battle of the desires to do as your word said,

to delight ourselves in you.

Delight ourselves in you.

And when we delight ourselves in you,

Lord, you change us.

And you give us new desires.

And new goals.

And new wants.

And new perspectives.

Lord, and keep that old self

subdued.

That wants to raise its head up so often in our life.

And say, well, you want that?

Then here's the sin that will get it for you.

You want that?

And here's to get it without sacrifice.

Lord, I pray that we would be a people, a first fruit people marked and seen by the tangible relationship of Jesus Christ that is filled with the fruit of the spirit that you promise us,

that you give us kindly and graciously.

And Lord, may we not be a people of death, people of destruction.

Or if there's anyone here this morning and they acknowledge what they see in their life is marked with intimacy of sin and not intimacy with you.

Lord, I pray that today would be a time of confession and repentance for them.

That it would either be a time of salvation for them or a time of them returning to you.

All for your name and for your glory.

And it's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

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