Study # 25
February 25, 1998
Harlingen, Texas
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Thesis:When temptation succeeds, life is sacrificed.
Introduction:Last week we spent most of our time going over a grocery list of five factors which enable temptation to succeed. We were following the point that temptation finds its roots of success within us. External temptation has no hope of success unless there is an internal dissatisfaction first. This is the reason God is untemptable; and it is the basic reason why He does not tempt any man. This evening we want to move on into verse 15 of James 1. This verse presents us with some critical issues and we need to look into the seriousness of permitting temptation to succeed.
- I. What is the Problem of Death as the Final Consequence of Sin?
- A. The term introduces the entire issue of "values".
- 1. What is important?
- 2. What makes things important?
- B. The term addresses the "final value" in that it is the final description of the ultimate result of sin.
- 1. What is the essence of "death"?
- 2. How does that essence exist as a final value?
- C. The warning implies the entire issue of conflicts of values and the danger of yielding to lesser values so as to sacrifice greater ones.
- 1. What are some of the lesser values? [These are the mechanisms of death.]
- 2. What does the personhood of God have to say about the structure of values?
- II. What is the Imagery that James Chooses to Use to Get His Message Across?
- A. A man faced by a seductress.
- 1. The man has an internal lust.
- 2. The seductress has an agenda also.
- B. How does this play out theologically?
- 1. What is the "man"?
- 2. What is the "seductress"?
- III. What is the Implication of the Conception-Death Cycle?
- A. Sin has a life of its own.
- B. The universe is built around cause and effect.
