James 1:13-15 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts he any man:… I. How SIN BEGINS. NOW here is a point on which a most profane idea is often held, which our text begins with contradicting. Sin, saws an old proverbial saying, is a child that nobody will own. Men are forward to commit it, but they are backward to acknowledge that they gave it birth. But "drawn away of his own lust," does the apostle say? Why does he not rather say" Drawn away by Satan"? Because the Lord is evidently aiming in this place to make men see that sin is their own doing — and that they are inexcusable in doing it. As some men are profane enough even to charge their sins upon the Lord, so many are glad, however, to lay all the blame of their transgressions at the door of Satan. "The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." But no, says the doctrine of our text — you are self-tempters. It is your own lust that is to blame. However busy Satan is to ensnare you he has an active fellow-worker in your own ungodly bosom. God made man upright; but man has spoiled the nature which his God bestowed on him. II. SIN'S PROGRESS. "Lust, when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin." Now this I call sin's progress, because the lust itself, that is to say, the desire of what is evil, is a sin as well as the act of sin which it brings forth. The law of God reaches to the heart. It says, "Thou shalt not covet." Evil desires, that is, when cherished in the heart, lead on to evil deeds. III. THE END OF SIN. Many of those who practise it seem to think its end is peace. Lessons: 1. To lay the blame of sin at the right door. 2. To prize unspeakably the tender mercies of a Saviour, and to plead hard for them. 3. That we should "keep our hearts with all diligence, for out of them are the issues of life." (A. Roberts, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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: |
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