Desire When It Has Conceived Gives Birth to Sin

James 1:15 says, "Desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death." James 1:15 compares sin with pregnancy, pictured in Proverbs 7:24-27. When the foolish young man sinned with the harlot, the union's most obvious and natural result is pregnancy. The child produced from that pregnancy, or sin, is death! Table of contentsSin Begins in the HeartEven the Strong and Mighty Must Be on GuardThe Wages of Sin Is DeathSin Is Compared to Pregnancy Because It Gives Birth to DeathSin Is Compared to Pregnancy Because It Is a ProcessSin Is Compared to Pregnancy Because It GrowsBut What About When We Still Sin? https://youtu.be/RM8pfYAUiLs James 1:15 describes pregnancy: "Desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death." Consider these people who were killed by, of all things, their pets: Sandra Piovesan had nine half-wolves, half-dogs that she raised, and after they grew, they killed her. Kelly Ann Walz raised a black bear from when it was a cub. When it reached 350 pounds, it killed her. Marius Els had a pet hippopotamus, which ended up killing him after it grew. We know many animals are deadly. There are lots of stories of people being killed by animals. These stories stand out because the people kept the animals as pets. All these people had one thing in common: they thought the animals didn’t threaten them. They thought the animals could be tamed and controlled. They thought they could have these animals in their lives without problems. Marius owned the hippopotamus, and the article reads, and I quote, that he was “[warned repeatedly] that it was a wild animal that could never be tamed.” But he said, “There’s a relationship between me and the hippo, and that’s what some people don’t understand. They think you can only have a relationship with dogs, cats, and domestic animals. But I have a relationship with the most dangerous animal in Africa.” This sounds crazy to us. Most of us agree that keeping wolves, bears, and hippopotamuses is a bad idea. These people thought the animals were safe because they got them when they were small and harmless. Over time, the animals grew and became deadly. This illustrates what can happen with sin. We tend to treat our sin like a pet. It starts small and seemingly harmless, but then it grows into something deadly and kills us as well. This is the main point of James 1:15: "Desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death." And it is illustrated in Proverbs 7:24-27: Proverbs 7:24 And now, O SONS, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. 25 LET NOT YOUR HEART TURN ASIDE TO HER WAYS; DO NOT STRAY INTO HER PATHS, 26 for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. 27 Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death. Don’t you hear the father pleading with his son? Proverbs 1:8 Hear, MY SON, YOUR FATHER'S INSTRUCTION, and forsake not your mother's teaching… Proverbs 1:10 MY SON, if sinners entice you, do not consent… Proverbs 1:15 MY SON, do not walk in the way with them; Proverbs 2:1 MY SON, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you Proverbs 3:1 MY SON, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, Proverbs 4, 5, 6, and 7 begin the same way. The word “son” occurs almost 50 times because Proverbs is written as a father speaking to his son. Proverbs is indeed for everyone. It is the book of wisdom, and we all benefit from gaining wisdom; however, because Proverbs is written as a father talking to his son, young men receive a special benefit. So, young men can read these verses and hear me pleading to resist the harlot. Young men hear Solomon, the human author of Proverbs, pleading to resist the harlot. But I hope even more that you look past Solomon and me to the even greater Person pleading with you in these verses, and that is God the Father. We know from the previous verses that the foolish young man was killed by the harlot. So, the Father lovingly reaches out to his sons, trying to prevent them from experiencing the same. He says, “After seeing what happened to the foolish young man, listen to me, pay attention to my words, so you don’t end up like him.” Sin Begins in the Heart Proverbs 7:8 [He passed] along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house Now, I’m not trying to sound overly simple, but the foolish young man physically headed toward her house. Now look at what the Father says in verse 25: Proverbs 7:25 Let not YOUR HEART TURN ASIDE TO HER WAYS; do not stray into her paths, So, which is it? Did he turn aside toward the harlot, or did his heart turn aside toward her? Yes! In verse 25, the words “turn aside” suggest walking somewhere, but obviously, our hearts don’t walk anywhere. So why does it say this? The heart is being personified as someone with the potential to go somewhere. So here’s something we should learn from this: Before the young man physically turned aside toward the harlot’s house, his heart had already turned aside and gone that way. Before he ever took a physical step in that direction, he had already taken a step in that direction in his heart. This is why we’re told to guard our hearts: Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. There’s an emphasis on keeping or protecting our hearts because the rest of us will follow where our hearts go. Our hearts determine the course of our lives. If we let our hearts go where they shouldn’t, we will soon find ourselves going where we shouldn’t. Listen to Jesus’ words that also make this point: Matthew 15:18 What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. Before we say anything, it first comes out of our hearts. Our hearts determine our speech. Jesus makes the same point about our actions in the next verse. Before we ever commit these sins, they first come from our hearts. Our hearts determine what we do and think. So, the real battle with sin occurs in our hearts, so we must keep them from turning aside toward the wrong things. Even the Strong and Mighty Must Be on Guard The chapter is about a foolish young man, described in Proverbs 7:7 as simple and lacking sense. So it’s pretty easy to look at him and think, “Sure, he failed. He’s foolish and simple.” We might even say, “He’s weak. We would expect this to happen to him.” And then, what do we think next? “But this would never happen to me! I’m not that foolish or simple. I wouldn’t have the same problems as him. He was weak, but I’m too strong for this to happen to me!” To prevent us from thinking this, God says: Proverbs 7:26 for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain ARE A MIGHTY THRONG. The harlot doesn’t just take down simple, foolish men. She has taken down plenty of mighty, strong men as well. How is she able to do this? Sin deceives us. It lies to us. It appeals to our pride and makes us believe we’re strong enough to handle it. If there were certain places in the Bible we should remember, this is one of them: remember that sin has taken down many mighty men. Remember this verse when you let your guard down and believe you won’t have any problems. When considering giving in to temptation, you might even turn to these words, read them, and remind yourself of the strong men who have been slain by sin. The Wages of Sin Is Death Notice death is the theme in these verses: In verse 22, an ox to the slaughter and a deer in a trap In verse 23, an arrow pierced a deer’s liver, a bird in a snare, and the foolish young man didn’t know it would cost him his life In verse 26, she has slain many strong men In verse 27, her house leads to Sheol and death. There are 8 references to death in 4 verses. God wants us to know that sin leads to death! Sin Is Compared to Pregnancy Because It Gives Birth to Death James 1:15 When desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. This verse is filled with the language of pregnancy: "conceived," "gives birth," and "brings forth" are all ways of describing pregnancy. James is talking about sin having a child of its own. He’s saying that if sin is allowed to mature when it is full-grown, it will bring forth – or it will have a child of its own – and that child is death. It may take years for sin to grow to this point, but when it does, it produces death. And this is far from the only place in Scripture to compare sin with pregnancy. Consider these verses: Job 15:35 They CONCEIVE TROUBLE and GIVE BIRTH TO EVIL, and THEIR WOMB PREPARES DECEIT. Psalm 7:14 Behold, the wicked man CONCEIVES EVIL and is PREGNANT WITH MISCHIEF and GIVES BIRTH to lies. Isaiah 59:4 No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they CONCEIVE MISCHIEF and GIVE BIRTH TO INIQUITY. When we see a theme in scripture such as this, it is an example of God repeating himself, something he does to ensure we don’t miss something. So, we don't want to miss that sin is compared with pregnancy. James 1:15 compares sin with pregnancy, and that’s pictured in Proverbs 7! When the foolish young man sinned with the harlot, what was one of that union's most obvious and natural results? Pregnancy! One of the reasons a harlot might have been chosen to personify sin is because when the young man sinned with her, there was the possibility of pregnancy. And the child produced from that pregnancy, or sin is death! Death is described this way in James 1:15, illustrated in Proverbs 7:22-27. Commentators who see it this way: Albert Barnes said,