This broadcaster has 1095 podcast archives available on-demand.
Keep up-to-date with this broadcaster on social media and their website.
February 20, 2020 3:00 am
No one can blame God for sin because every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, we possess a nature that gives rise to sin. God does not. The nature of God is such that all news is good. Doubt God's goodness and his care for you. How will you respond. The Bible says in this life you will have trouble. But God's word also shows you how to know peace and joy and avoid the temptation to sin, even in your darkest days, you're not going to want to miss John MacArthur's lesson today on grace to you as he continues a tremendously practical study titled benefiting from life's trials. Now with a lesson years, John, now if I fall in the city was is it God's call who brings the trials or allows them is the fall of my circumstances is it the fault of my being created by God the way I am. And I can't help but whose fault is it.
There are five proofs that God is not responsible for temptation and therefore sin number one. The nature of evil, the nature of evil, all evil repulses God it can find no place in his holy character, so the nature of evil is infinitely apart from the holiness of God. In Leviticus 19 to it, says the Lord is holy. In Leviticus 2026 the Lord is holy in Isaiah 6. Holy, holy, holy first Peter 116. The Lord is holy. Holiness cannot be penetrated by sin. Second, the nature of man. The nature of man, not only what evil is.
But what man is. Look at verse 14. This is so interesting, but every man is tempted, or literally cost us everyone or each one, but each one each individual is tempted when he is drawn away his own lust, and enticed others. The problem the problem is it even though we been redeemed and even though we received a new nature and even though we are created in Christ Jesus. We still have an enemy within, and it is passion is that longing to be satisfied with something which in and of itself may be a good thing we don't need Satan.
We don't need demons, we don't even need the world, all we need is the resident passion of the flash and it will move out toward the baited hooks. So God is not responsible for our being tempted and our sin, the nature of evil, tells us that because it has no part in the nature of God. Secondly, the nature of man tells us where the problem is it's in us. Lust is the culprit not James takes us to 1/3 thought expanding that second one.
The third proof that God is not the source of sin is the nature of the last having identified lust in the nature of man. He now goes on to discuss it in verses 15 and 16 in very very practical and helpful terms. This is what I want you to focus on this is really the heart of the message for our own life. James shifts metaphors away from hunting and fishing to childbirth as he comes to verse 15 and discusses the nature of last.
Then he says one last has conceived, and he sees last year as a mother conceiving. It'll bring forth the child. The child is sin, and sin, when it comes forth doesn't do anything but produce what this all this is so very very helpful.
Listen carefully.
Most people think of sin as a solitary act or a series of acts or behaviors.
God is saying here that sin is not an act. Sin is the result of a process okay is the result of a process. It starts with and I'll give you some D's so you can write them down and remember them.
It starts with desire be through media or less desire is related to emotion. It begins with a feeling. It begins with that feeling of wanting to be satisfied wanting to acquire something to satisfy you something new, something that's been dangle in front of your face you saw in the jewelry store you sought on the car lot is sought in the mall or wherever, or there's a house and you keep driving by it all the time and it's strictly emotion it does something to you.
It makes you feel a longing.
That's where it all starts.
Sin begins with the desire, the second D is deception and right alongside the word deception write the word mind. What happens is you start with the desire in your emotion and then it comes to a deception in your mind because you begin to justify and rationalize the right that you have for that which you desire right.
This is just the inevitable pattern. Now that's what we found in verse 14 being drawn away and enticed.
The hook is baited the trap is baited, it deceives the intellect, the intellect looks and says I have a right to that that looks good that'll satisfy me. That'll meet my need. That'll quaff my desire and so what starts with desire and the emotion moves to deception in the mind, and you really believe you have a right to it. You believe that it's there and it's beautiful.
You believe it's fulfilling you believe it will give you what you want so you move out and what happens lust conceives.
Let's call this the third, the design now.
The concept of how you going to pull the sin off begins to form.
This occurs in the little you've gone from the emotions to the mind.
Now your will is active in Europe toying with your mind what your mind is already concluded your will is forming into a design when lust has conceived, then the design begins to form by the way, the word conceives of blue so literally means to become pregnant when lust when lust, as it were, is seduced by the prostitution of that baited hook, it becomes pregnant and the design is conceived. If you will, in the womb of a person's soul emotion desire something satisfying but wrong. It then moves to the mind and convinces itself, it has every right to it and having convinced itself of that.
It then conceives the sin itself sin being conceived and then we have the fourth D disobedience.
The act occurs, it brings forth soon. Any child that is born is born of that same process.
First, there is a desire between a man and a woman that desire for a child is then actuated in their mind they decided to do that, they make up their mind that they want to do that. They then conceive that child. They then later give birth to the child and so it is with sin is conceived as a desire initially in the mind is then justify it in the emotion is then justified in the mind. It is conceived in the will and brought about in the behavior that's the sequence. The word, it brings forth sin. You see it there is stick to it means to give birth and it occurs in the behavior.
So next to disobedience right behavior. The actual act from the emotion to the mind to the will to the behavior, emotions lead the mind to rationalize the rationalize mind leads the will to plan and now the baby is born and the deed is done.
And it all began with the desire to know me tell you something very practical. At what point did in our lives do we deal with sin out here at the level of behavior no way back at the level of what desire is the person who is able to control their emotional responses that is going to deal effectively with sin or the person who if feeling those emotional responses has a mind that is sanctified, and when it gets from the emotions to the mind. It is halted at that point if it makes it to the will and something is conceived, it will be born a child conceived as a child born that child's got to come out and so in dealing with sin in our lives. We don't just deal on the end of the line effectively were going to go way back to the beginning. If the emotions are allowed to be exposed to the baited hook you got problems and you know everything in our evil society will work on your emotions all the dramatic things all the movies and television and books and music, and clothing and all the alluring sights and sounds and things that attract our attention are all designed first to capture the emotion. There's all a fa�ade that is intended to allure us even advertising on television just boggles my mind.
I watch how they sell a car and you have no idea about the mechanics of the car which is nothing more than a piece of machinery.
Nothing except some goofy kind of dramatics and wild crazy music in space-age things flying all over everywhere and here is what is the dual where the car has absolutely nothing to do with the car, but it has everything to do with your what your emotions, your emotions, that's where it all begins. That's where it all begins woman puts on perfume and leaves a trail that is not for your intellect. We need to guard at the level of emotion and secondly at the level of mind and so the mind is to be brought into captivity to Christ in the great truth bringing everything in the mind into captivity to Christ and unprotected uncontrolled on yielded mind is going to be filled with evil images so I control my emotions control my mind because that's where the thing get started so I want to be sure that my emotions are given over to the things of God. You know what's a wonderful blessing in that regard is good Christian music because I love music and everybody doesn't.
Music is basically emotional. More than cognitive.
A lot of it is cognitive, but the bulk of it is emotional and isn't it wonderful that we have the privilege in these days. In these times to get the emotional enjoyment and have the singing soul and the feelings that we get through music that honors God and is a wonderful little kids growing up learn all that good Christian music so that their emotional responses in their joys and their sorrows can be set to music that is basically music glorifying God rather than music of the world. There are ways that we deal with our emotions. You cannot expose your emotions continually to things which lure you away from the things of God. You can't do that without paying a dear price and the mind is very simple. You need the mind of Christ, you need a renewed mind.
You need a mind that is set on things above and not on things on the errors you need a mind that is saturated with the word of Christ dwelling it ritually, you need a mind that Paul says in Romans 12 to that is transformed and not conned formed to the world. You need to put it simply, love the Lord your God with all your mind what's in your mind what's in your mind. If your mind feeds on the word of God then you go to stop sending way back. If your emotions are under the control of the spirit of God and your feelings have been brought captive to him to stop sin back where it starts.
If you let your emotions go and expose them to everything the world is throwing out and you let your mind to be an open door for everything to fly in and out and is not cultivated and plowed deeply with the word of God, then you will conceive sin and you will bring forth the child and may I add what he does at in verse 50 and when sin is completed Baku a means to cease to be pregnant when sin does give birth at the synonym to dictate the other verb used, it brings forth sin and when sin is brought forth all it brings is what is death. When sin is born. It is born a murderer. What a picture. What a picture.
The emotion and out of the emotion comes the decision and out of the decision comes the conception of the will and then the behavior and the imagery of the bearing of a child is so beautiful until it comes to the end when the child is born, and the child turns out to be a killer. Sin is a killer. The wages of sin is what death, spiritual death, separating the soul from God. Physical death separating the soul from the body to eternal death separating the soul and body from God and is not here particularly talking about Christians or non-Christians. He's just saying all sin ever produces his dad, even for a believer to be physical death is first Corinthians 11. First John 516. Demonstrate all kinds of death flows out of sin. So the idea that you're bringing some satisfying behavior to life is a lie all you bring is sin and all sin brings his death and so he says in verse 16. Stop being led astray, my beloved brother and stop being deceived it again. That word that we get the word planet from as if something is wandering off know where the trouble is he saying don't be deceived. Stop blaming God and start blaming yourself and start looking within and don't go blindly through life just accepting what is, and then blaming God realize that you have within you. An enemy and that enemy is your own fallenness and your own blast and that enemy must be dealt with. You cannot expose your emotion to everything that lures you. You cannot let your mind to become captive to those things. You gotta know where the problem is not be deceived about it. Go back there and deal with it at that level.
Stop it. At the start fill your mind with the things of God so that they can never meet with your feelings and conceive sin in your will. If your emotions are controlled or if your mind is controlled either one leaves the other without a mate to conceive sin, the nature of evil, the nature of man and the nature of lust eliminate the fact that God could ever tempt us to sin and then a direct proof. The nature of God.
Verse 17 look at this. This is so marvelous. The nature of God hears the heart of the text just grab this.
No one can blame God for sin because every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, I mean the only things that come down from him I will are good and perfect we possess a nature that gives rise to sin. God does not. The nature of God is such that it only produces good this is a twofold thing on the negative side, what saying is, God could never produce sin. On the positive side get this what it's saying is, God is going to pour out good good good good good good and more good. Why in the world are you going after baited hooks to be satisfied when God is pouring out everything you could ever use for all your satisfaction.
The negative side, God could never produce evil is good.
The positive side, he produces unending and unbounded good. That makes a person of fool who would be tempted to be lured away to some baited hook or baited trap. When all the goodness of God is available by his grace our flesh is a well of foul water. When we think about what it does and why would we ever drink from that when we can come to the well to the fountain of life himself, God gives us every good and perfect gift.
Would you notice the two every's every every all-inclusive all-inclusive every every which knows the two gifts gift the gift one is doses, it means the act of giving. One is the rami that means the gift given every act of giving and every gift given in the act of giving is good and perfect good means good there's no comparative for it is good, good, or in Buddhist. It's just good, it's complete.
It lacks nothing. It's all sufficient.
It is perfect comprehensive every every good gift and every every good gift giving by God is perfect beneficial absolutely complete back to verse 17 every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and is coming down the hall from above.
It's all flowing down house foolish to grab the luring date of sin.
How stupid to climb into the trap when every good and perfect gift is coming down like rain out of heaven upon us. Satan tried it, saying try to tell you the guy was holding out on her. God is not you have the best you better grab that satisfaction you better grab that Basque gods kept the best from you.
She bought that lie and the child was conceived and born and the child was death. The child was death every good every perfect is going to be his joy to give to us. They come down from him.
Notice he's called the father of lights that is a great state that was an ancient Jewish way of referring to God as creator the lights they have in mind of the sun, moon and the stars.
He is the father of the lights, the celestial bodies you say why is he choosing that title because it fits his illustration. He is the father of lights, but with him. There is no variation and no shifting shadow, very graphic, very graphic. He is the one who created all the stellar's via bodies he created all of them but he's not like them. They very they change the DM they brighten, they bring the light they cast shadow there here in the daytime gone at night here at night. Dawn in the daytime. There benefit to us comes and goes. God is like that.
God's brilliant bright light of of glory and light of goodness and light of grace is no varying thing.
It is not use the term prologue you get parallax from it doesn't pass from one condition to another. It doesn't have shadows. It never goes dark. First John 15 in him is no what darkness at all. Malachi 36 on the Lord, I change not.
There are no days when he stops giving spiritual gifts are no days when he stops giving spiritual light come, thou fount of every blessing to my heart to sing thy grace streams of mercy.
What's the next words never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.
The streams of mercy, never cease. Nothing can eclipse God's goodness. Nothing can stop his benevolence, nothing can interrupt the flow of his heavenly light.
Don't take the devil's bait don't conceive and give birth to a deadly child that could spell your own death. God gives all good and only good who's responsible for sin you are right you are, this is grace to you with John MacArthur thanks for tuning in today. John's current study is titled benefiting from life's trials. John this whole study is reminded me how supremely relevant Scripture is to our daily lives, because all of us suffer. We all will suffer even more. And we all have friends or loved ones who born heartbreaking tragedies and when that happens when someone we know and love is suffering will want to know what to say but maybe more helpful is knowing what not to say so. Talk about the little bit what shouldn't you say to someone who's going through trial and I think the best illustration of that is Job's friends are right.
They sat for a week and didn't say anything.
They didn't say anything. They just sat in loving quiet compassion and companionship and didn't say anything.
Then when they open their mouths, all wisdom flew out and everything they said was stupid of the first thing that they said that was wrong was that this is happening to you because of sin, right.
This is very much like the Pharisees said about the blind men who sinned, this man or his parents or mean these blinds must've sin or somebody sin that that's the bad advice of Job's friends and they were relentless with Job no matter how Job said wait a minute. I don't know any sin in my life. I buy I can identify anything they were relentless they would not let him off the hook that a theology that says you get what you deserve, you get what you deserve. The bad things happen in your life. It's because you're a bad person. That's pretty conventional wisdom and really is a man just plain earthly wisdom be a good person and things will go good for you. Be a bad person you to be in trouble but I think that's the one thing you want to avoid is sitting in judgment on why some things happening in someone's life because you don't know that me, there are some cases where you do know that there's a person in sin. And there have been trials that have come into that life and but even in that regard. You know were not the ones were going to say this happened because this was caused by their sin so I think you avoid that. I think you show comfort and compassion and care and love to the person who suffers Peter's lesson where he was unfaithful to the Lord and the Lord putting through that and said to him, now that you've gone through that you can strengthen the brother and right moves to the positive side so you know you don't want to say this is happening to you because you're bad you also want to be able to say I've been through suffering and I can tell you there's hope at the other end and Peter could encourage people who went through the worst of trials and in Peter's try was self-inflicted by his denials, but he Peter was restored and converted as the term is used and he could then strengthen the brothers who also would go through trials so avoid drawing conclusions about sin and suffering and affirm people that you've been through suffering and you know the ends are for your good and God's glory.
Thanks, John. That's really helpful and friend. Perhaps, grace to you has comforted you and suffering were equipped you to comfort others during their trials or help you overcome sin. However, this broadcast has benefited you. We love to hear your story, so when you have a moment please drop us a note get in touch today. You can email us at letters@gty.org or send a letter to Grace to you. Box 4000 panorama city, CA 91412, or to find all of our contact information. You can go to our website Jide TY.org.
Also, let me remind you that grace to you is listener supported. We are connecting believers around the world with God's truth and were able to do that because listeners like give. We recently heard from Tony in Singapore. He said that John's verse by verse teaching showed him how rightly to interpret Scripture and how to discern truth from error and always taking what is learned and discipling others in the community with very little knowledge of the gospel. If you'd like to help us take God's word to believers like that around the globe, call our toll-free number 855 grace or you can make a donation at our website TTY.that's TTY.and L4.
John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson inviting you back for our next broadcast, there's a lot more to learn about finding hope and victory in trials benefiting from life's trials. That's the title of John's current study and he's back with the next installment tomorrow another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one person at a time on racing