Hope in Trails and Temptation

Text: James 2:12-18 ESV

If you didn’t hear last week, we are now in our new series on James. It’s going to be our Fall series, so we're going to be in this book all the way up until Advent. In the back, are bookmarks that Greer Wymond made if you want to grab some. I'm excited for this series. 

Today, we're going to dive into James 1:12–18. Let me read some lyrics from a group called The Beautiful Eulogy. Here is what they say in a song call “If.”

If in one unfortunate moment 
You took everything that I own 
Everything you've given from heaven above 
And everything that I've ever known 
If you stripped away my ministry 
My influence, my reputation 
My health, my happiness 
My friends, my pride, and my expectation 
If you caused for me to suffer 
Or to suffer for the cause of the cross 
If the cost of my allegiance is prison 
And all my freedoms are lost 
If you take the breath from my lungs 
And make an end of my life 
If you take the most precious part of me 
And take my kids and my wife 
It would crush me, it would break me 
It would suffocate and cause heartache 
I would taste the bitter dark providence 
But you would still preserve my faith 
What's concealed in the heart of having 
Is revealed in the losing of things 
And I can't even begin to imagine 
The sting that kind of pain brings 
I would never blame you for evil 
Even if you caused me pain 
I came into this world with nothing 
And when I die it'll be the same
I will praise your name 
In the giving and taking away
If I have you I could lose everything 
And still consider it gain

My question is: if that was your story, could you end your song like this? Here's what he says: “I would never blame you for evil. And instead, I will praise your name.” This morning, as we dive into James, we are going to see we have no ground to blame God for evil. Amid trials and interpretations, God is not the one delivering evil and wicked things. He's allowing them to come, like he did, for example, in the life of Job. But he's not the one responsible. It's not his hand that tempts us to evil. We can't blame God for evil. 

We can worship God for good, the good that will come through hardship, but not the hardship itself. Here's where we're going. As we look at James 1:12–18. We're going to see God only gives good gifts, but he allows trials. 

• God allows trials to get us to a great reward (v. 12) 

• God does not give wicked gifts, and he is not responsible for sin (13–15)

• God only gives good gifts, and he is responsible for salvation (16–18)

Hopefully I can tie all of those three points together to show that God only gives good gifts, but he allows trials. Let’s look at point number 1: 

• God allows trials to get us to a great reward (v. 12) 

“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12 ESV)

First, do you notice that our God is not surprised by trials? He's not suddenly backpedaling as if he didn't see it coming. No, God is sovereign. The idea is that God is over trials, and he's using them. He's allowing them to happen for a purpose. It has an endgame, an end goal. And here it is: that you would receive the crown of life. 

The world cup qualifiers just started. And the idea is that all these athletes are competing, they are suffering and working their bodies for the crown of being able to participate in the greatest sporting event out there—soccer on the world stage. I know you all are all into American Football. But you have to get a taste for the world’s greatest game on the world’s biggest stage. Nothing like it. But the picture is of trials and temptations and heaviness and hardship. The analogy is that suffering and hardship the that’s not good itself. But you push through and you get your prize. You get the win, and you get the trophy. Or in the words of this verse, “your crown.” 

Now, Andrew talked about this last time, but these verses are so helpful for walking through what I mean. Look at James 1:2–4:

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2–4 ESV)

Notice, God is using trials. Trials are going somewhere. I want you to see that yes there is suffering and hardship in this life. But it's not random. Whatever you're experiencing, it's not random. You know this, it's going somewhere. God is using it. In particular, in James 1:12, he's drawing our attention to the final reward of enduring these trials and temptations — the crown of life. 

I want to draw attention to what that means. The crown of life is eternal life with God — a place where there are no more trials, no more tears, no more suffering, no more hardship. That's the reward of enduring these trials. A pastor named David Mathis pointed this out, and I thought it was so helpful. He said one thing that makes encountering trials so difficult in this life is that it's written on our hearts to want life without trials. But right now, trials are what God is using to help us get there. Yet, we long for that day when trials and suffering and hardship will be no more. 

Let me take a minute though and talk to anyone here who hasn’t yet trusted Christ as their savior. Do you ever wake up and think that everything is not as it should be? You look around and think, this world is broken. You see the hardship in the heaviness and you feel there must be more than this. I want to say yes that is true. And that longing for something more God wrote on your heart. In the words of James, it's the crown of life you're longing for.

But listen, here's who God promises it to: which God promised to those who love you. I want to call you this morning, whoever you are, to turn to God, through His Son, Jesus Christ. God sent his son that you might have access to this life you are longing for. His Son took the wicked junk you did that would have meant you deserve death, and instead if you trust in Jesus, you get the crown of life. 

Now for those of you who maybe grew up in church or came in trusting Jesus, you read this, and I'm sure that God being sovereign over suffering is probably not news to you. But immediately it might raise a question. You might begin to think that since God is allowing and using these trials that he is the one doing wicked and evil things? And that's where James is going to go next. He wants to clear the air. So let’s begin by looking at point number two: 

• God does not give wicked gifts, and he is not responsible for sin (13–15)

“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 ESV)

I want you to feel the tension for a moment. Verse 13 very clearly says God does not tempt us. He is not the one that causes evil. He is not the one on the other side of the fishing pole, throwing out the lure, catching us, and reeling us in.

God doesn't tempt us. He is not trying to lure us. So feel the tension. God's sovereign over trials and temptations, but he's not the one that tempts us. How does this work? How can God be sovereign over evil and suffering — like trails and temptation — yet not be the one that is tempting us? 

This isn’t an easy question to sort through, but James is going to walk us through pieces of it. Let see James's first answer how this works. Look at verses 14–15: 

“But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” (James 1:14–15 ESV)

James’s first answer to the question is that sin comes not from God causing us to sin, but for us choosing to sin. Look how he describes the process in birthing stages. You're enticed with wicked desires. You stay around, and those desires give birth to sin. That sin, as you continue in it, gives birth to death — spiritual death, dead hearts. That’s sin and death’s birth plan. 

Let me give you a biblical example of this playing out. Think of David and Bathsheba. Many of you are probably familiar with it, but here's what happens. David, he's King right? One day he sees Bathsheba taking a bath across the way. So what does he do? He calls her over. He sleeps with her. He commits adultery. But it doesn’t stop there. She gets pregnant. And long story short, this leads David to kill her husband — Uriah.

Now, if you just plot out David’s sin, first, he is enticed by desires when he sees Bethsheba. He lets that desire give birth to sin. He sleeps with her. That sin gives birth to another sin, he kills Uriah. And then you read later in Psalm 51 that David recognizes the deadness of his heart. He repents to God because of the death that has come from his sin.

What James is trying to clarify is he wants us to know very clearly that sin, wickedness that's not God's fault. Because here's the thing. It could have been very easy for David to blame God. It would have looked like this, “God, you're sovereign over everything. You allowed Bethsheba to take a bath where I saw her. This is your fault.”

I actually heard a story this week of a former pastor. He starts pastoring and commits adultery. He, of course, leaves the church. He gets another job pastoring. What did you do? Commit adultery again. Again, given another job pastoring. What does he do? He commits adultery. Then, finally, he is not working for a church anymore, and someone talks to him and asks him how he is doing. He replies, “I’m angry.” He was angry at God, saying this was all God's fault. God didn't protect me from falling into these sins with all these women. Compare that to David, who finally, after awhile says this: 

“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight,” (Psalm 51:3–4 ESV)

Notice the “I sinned”. Which one of those men sounds more stable? Which one sounds like they are thinking right? Who do you want to be? 

Well, James is trying to clarify, your only biblical answer is to respond to sin, hardship, brokenness in your life not by blaming God, but by looking at sin and its effect. James paints the clear pattern of sin: distorted desires gives rise to sin, and sin gives rise to death. In the words of James 1:13, God does not entice. And he definitely isn’t causing us to sin. God does not tempt. God does not cause us to sin. In fact, look at 1 Corinthians 10:13:

“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV)

The picture is this, yes, God is active in this process. But what he's doing is he's holding back some of the temptation that the enemy would want to bring you because he doesn't want to overwhelm you. Yes, he’s allowing some temptation to come through, and that is important to see, but while he’s doing that, notice that he is not causing you to sin. What is he doing? “Providing the way of escape.” 

If you go back to James, James gives the perfect analogy to picture how this works. He says, “when he is lured or enticed.” The analogy here that James is trying to get is this fishing analogy. Picture an evening of fishing. You cast your pole out there, and you got this little luer on there. That luer, what does it do? It entices the little fishies. The fish lets this lure entice them, and then hook, reel, and now you have dinner. 

I heard Alistair Begg talking about it this way. Let's just picture this. Here's little Gil, and here's mama fish talking to Gil. “Gill, you know, today's your first day of going out on your own into the water. Remember what I said to you so many times, ‘when you see that shiny thing that looks so yummy and enticing, don't go after it. keep swimming. Don't even look at it a second time. Just keep going. It won't end well. It ends in death. Don't take the bait”

Gil responds, “Yeah, yeah, I know mom. Thank you.” Little Gil goes out swimming and sure enough he sees that shiny little thing. He keeps swimming, but then he thinks, I'll just go back to take a look. Just look at it. He goes back and looks at it. It really is beautiful and does look really yummy. Gil begin to think, “Does mom really want the best for me?” She’s not very fun sometimes. Sometimes she holds really fun things back from me. Maybe she doesn't want me to eat this because it would be too much fun. 

Okay, forget the fish. Every single person in this room is facing temptations to sin. And the pattern is always the same, we stare, and we get enticed, and we stay a little too long. And that gives birth to sin and death. It doesn't matter if it's a big or small sin. It doesn't matter if it's gluttony or gossip. If it's pornography or pride, anger or arrogance, or wealth or just plain wickedness. This is how sin happens.

James, what's his call? Don't blame God. Instead, endure those trials and temptations. Don't be enticed by these things like that little fish. But endure knowing “Why would I want that little shiny thing, I got a crown at the end if I just keep swimming that way.” And you leave it behind. Alright, let's go to point number three and put this all together: 

• God only gives good gifts, and he is responsible for salvation (16–18). 

Let’s see if we can catch the logic of where James has gone. God's using trials. He is sovereign over trials, using them to get the crown of life. But don't be fooled. Don't think that God is tempting you. When you sin, you're giving into evil things that aren't the hand of God, causing you to sin. If God is not the one giving wicked, evil, bad things, then what does God give? Now he's going to answer that in verses 16–18. So here's what he says. Look at verse 16.

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.” (James 1:16 ESV)

It's like James's pauses and says, “Pay attention. Get this. Don’t miss this because if you do, you're missing something really important. Here's what he says. Verse 17: 

“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.” (James 1:17 ESV)

The idea is James is wanting to make a really, really clear picture. God does not give evil, wicked, tempting, bad things. What does he give good? Perfect gifts from above. And now he's going to give an example in verse 18:

“Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” (James 1:18 ESV)

Example number one that God gives good gifts is the fact that we're saved. He gave us the word of truth that brought this “firstfruits of his creatures.” There is similar idea of God being the one who give good gifts, and only good gifts, in Matthew 7:9–11:

“Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:9–11 ESV)

That is the same idea that James is trying to say. Our God is a God of good gifts. He gives good things. That's what he does. Think of Genesis 1–3. What does it say? God created the world and it was good. Good. Good. Then all of a sudden it turns bad. Why? Not because God started giving out of his bag of bad gifts. He doesn’t have a bag like that. No, it was because we, us, humankind, sinned. God doesn't give anything else but good gifts. Nothing else. Not anything wicked or wretched.

Now, at this point you might still be saying, “Wait a minute. How does God being sovereign over trials, suffering, and hardship square with the fact that he only gives good gifts?” The faith that trials produce might be good, the crown of life, for example. But the trials themselves are not good. Well, let me see if I can bring this all together with the help of a pastor I knew in Minneapolis, Joe Rigney. Here's what he said:

According to James, all things come from God, but not all things come from him in the same way. It’s true that we can say trials, in some sense, come from God. We say that since then he allows trials. He designed trials so that they would create something. But these trials don’t come from God in the same way that good gifts do.

Let me just show you that all I'm trying to do is grasp and get language for Bible that I'm seeing. Look again at verse 12, 

“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12 ESV)

God is allowing trials for a purpose. He is sovereign over them. But then James is so quick to say, “Don't say you're tempted by God.” Now it's even more complicated because the Greek word for trial and temptation are the same word. We translate them differently in our passage, and I think it's helpful. But it’s the same word. 

“Bless it is the man who remains steadfast under trial. Same thing, “but don't let God say when he's being tried by God, don't let him say that God is trying me or tempting me.” That's not how it works. 

There’s these biblical categories then that God is sovereign over suffering and hardship but he is not the one who's tempting me. He's not the one causing the trials. Hence we'll use words like allows or designs or permits. Again, I’m just trying to read the word and put it together. 

Then James goes on to affirm that no God doesn't give bad, wicked things. What does he do? He gives good things. That's verses 16–17. So I'm just trying to get language for that and to understand it.

In reading James, it seems that all things come from God, but not all things come in the same way. Or we might say that good and perfect gifts come directly from God. But wicked, bad things come indirectly from God. Again, just trying to put it together. 

Now if you're like me, and admittedly how Rigney was, it still might feel a bit muddy. Like how does that work? So let me see if this can help. Again, this came from that pastor though I’m about 95% positive he took it from Jonathan Edwards. But nonetheless, here's a good example. We talk like this when we talk about the sun. We say the sun is responsible for the light, and we can say it's responsible for darkness — but not in the same way. We say that the sun is responsible for heat and it is also responsible for cold — but not in the same way. 

What we mean by that is that the sun is directly responsible for light. When the sun is up and shining, it produces light. It's direct influence is light. But when the sun hides itself, darkness comes. In this sense the sun is indirectly responsible for darkness. In the same way, the sun is directly responsible for heat, and indirectly responsible for cold. When the sun is out and shining it produces heat. But when it pulls itself away, cold comes in its place.

The idea is that God gives and distributes good directly. And anything else he is only indirectly responsible for. When he withholds himself, he allows things like temptations and things to pass through — but for a purpose. 

Now, you might be thinking, why does that matter? Well, it matters to James to get it right. Here's just one way I think it can matter in your life. 

You're going to face trials and temptations. That's clear. If we rightly emphasize God is sovereign, which means this trial, it has a purpose and God sees it and he's designed it. He hasn't forgotten me. That's good. But there's a version of that that goes too far. It goes too far by saying that the actual trial and temptation are good in and of themselves. Because, in the logic would go, because they came from God therefore they must be good. 

Now it's that kind of thinking that James is trying to kill. He never wants us to conflate the fact that God is using trials and temptations to the idea that the hard things are good things.

I want you to know this morning that whatever temptations or hardships you are facing, those aren't good. They are wicked. And you're longing for reprieve. The reason it's a trial, and it feels hard is that you're longing for something better. I also want to say to you, hold on, though, because good is coming. It's not that these trials are good. But your God promises to give you, to directly give you, a good soon. The good of the crown of life. But hold on. Don’t get angry at God, and blame him. Hold onto God for help amid the storm. 

God is not the one that directly gives evil and wicked things. No, he gives good gifts. And that leads us perfectly to Communion. Why? Because it points to the good gift that God gave, and also allowed the evil to pass through that his Son would die. If it wasn’t for that we would not have hope. Here's the thing. When we describe sin and how it entices us, every one of us in this room knows that story. And if it wasn't for our God who is the Father of lights, the one who gives good gifts, we would all be where that chain ended in verse 15:

“Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” (James 1:15 ESV)

But our God, the God and Father of lights, the God of good gifts, sent his Son, taking our sin this morning. If you need hope because you look at this and you say, I have sinned. Look to the cross. There is your hope. It is your hope because, there at the cross, you find Jesus. Look Hebrews 4:15, 

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15 ESV)

Meaning Jesus knows your temptations. He knows how hard and how heavy it is. He's been there feeling that temptation. Yet, here's how it ends—yet he was without sin. Meaning when you look at your temptations, and you say I fell to them, you can look to the cross and say, there's one who didn't fall, and his perfect blood promises you, as a sinner, an exchange — your sin for his righteousness. He gets your punishment and you get the crown of life.