LUST AND DESIRE ATTAINED IMPROPERLY

LUST AND DESIRE ATTAINED IMPROPERLY

“But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.” James 1:14-15

Learning from our parents.

drawn away It is a hunting figure, a figure of a man who is engaged in trapping animals, and the word means seduced from safety into snares.

enticed To do it the wrong way instead of God's way. The next word "enticed" is a fishing figure, and includes the thought of a bait held out. The thought of the word enticed is "seduced by a fancied advantage." Mark the process in your own soul. There is desire in your life. Here is a suggestion that I shall satisfy that desire by being drawn away from the straight line which you see in front of yourself. You am enticed by the bait that offers you immediate realization of the thing you am after. You turn away, mark the word, turn away from the law which is in your conscience of right and wrong, you turn away to satisfy the lust. Lust is right, but the suggestion is that instead of answering the desire of your nature within the realm of God's holy law, you shall attempt to answer it outside. You are enticed. You are drawn away. The desire is right; the peril is that you are asked to satisfy proper desire by breaking law. And sin is lawlessness-abandoning the right way.

When does sin begin? James is careful to tell us. "Then the lust, when it hath conceived." We may translate this word "conceived" sullambano here in order to help us, by a number of words-to clasp, to seize, to arrest, to capture. Here is a desire in my life. It is not sin. Here is temptation luring me from the line of rectitude. That is not sin. The will within me decides that I shall turn from the line of rectitude and take this suggestion and lay hold upon it, seize it, capture it. What then? The act is committed. That is sin. When I seize the bait, the hidden hook seizes me. The hook is not sin. The hook is the penalty, the first pang of hell. The sin is in the deliberate choice of the will and the determined act by which I turn aside to answer, not my desire, but the allurement to the fulfillment of desire in an improper way. When you turn toward evil courses, when you go out upon the highway or into the hidden and secret and shameful place, you are not seeking God, you are turning from Him. In your heart and conscience you know the thing which is right and the thing which is wrong. There is desire within you for vision, light and life in its fullness. Oh for the thrill and throb of a great life. Who does not desire it? Every man does who is physically, mentally and spiritually sound. He desires it. It is the cry of his life after God. But when you turn to the ways of lust and licentiousness you are not answering that cry, you are answering the seduction which suggests that you turn by short and illicit methods to satisfy desire. As Adam and Eve who desired knowledge that was gained improperly. Sin is the answer to the suggestion that I break law to satisfy desire. A man wins when he says, "Desire is perfectly right. It is right that I should desire vision and life at its fullest, but I must find these things along the line of law." But Satan encourages the breaking of the law as he did with Adam and Eve.

A man wins when he says, "Desire is perfectly right. It is right that I should desire vision and life at its fullest, but I must find these things along the line of law." If you listen to the voice of he who tempts and lies  and turn aside, know this, and know it forever—be not deceived, I pray you; "God is not mocked"—(Gal. 6:7) you sin, and you are not seeking God. Listen to me, you are trying to dodge God and get your prize without God, and you cannot do it. Lust, desire is enticed, is drawn away, and if man with the will shall seize upon the bait, then he sins.