2. James Teaches Temptation and Deliverance James 1:13-18

3. Genesis 3:11 [God] said, “Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”

4. James 1:13a Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,”

5. REFLECTION 5: We are sinful by nature and choice

6. “‘To hell with sin, when being good is enough.’ That’s the drift of American preaching today in a lot of churches. People know what sin is; they just don’t believe in it anymore. We mix up happiness and holiness, and God is no longer the reference point.” Michael Horton (Westminster Seminary)

7. REFLECTION 5: We are sinful by nature and choice James 1:13 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. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

8. REFLECTION 5: We are sinful by nature and choice “With irresistible power desire seizes mastery over the flesh…It makes no difference whether it is sexual desire, or ambition, or vanity, or desire for revenge, or love of fame and power, or greed for money…At this moment God is quite unreal to us, he loses all reality, and only desire for the creature is real; Satan does not here fill us with hatred of God, but with forgetfulness of God.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

9. James 1:16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 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. 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.

10. REFLECTION 6: God is a great and generous giver

11. REFLECTION 6: God is a great and generous giver 1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

12. REFLECTION 6: God is a great and generous giver 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.

13. REFLECTION 6: God is a great and generous giver 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.

14. REFLECTION 6: God is a great and generous giver Ephesians 1:13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

15. REFLECTION 6: God is a great and generous giver 1 Peter 1:23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

16. REFLECTION 6: God is a great and generous giver Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

17. REFLECTION 6: God is a great and generous giver Matthew 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

18. REFLECTION 6: God is a great and generous giver