Well, let's draw near to our God in prayer. Father, you are the one who has spoken these worlds into existence. You are the one who cares for every detail, every atom, every molecule. We thank you for the omnipotence and the omniscience that you have in caring for this world. And we would pray that as you are the God of truth that you will use your truth in this hour to build us up in the most holy faith. Lord Jesus, we remind ourselves of when you were here on earth, you prayed for us, and you prayed that we would be sanctified in your truth. So Spirit of God, come. Now, minister grace to our hearts as we hear the word of God, as we look at your truth, and we pray that you would lift us up out of our lethargy, that you would stir us so that you, the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit would be the object of our worship and our praise. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Well, as we come to James 1, 16 and following, we want to ask the question of whether or not there is a connection with what has gone before. There is a tendency to come to the book of James and view it as more disconnected proverbs rather than seeing the flow of thought. But notice with me, James 1 and verse 13 has this central theme of let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God. But in the words, as we come into James 1 and verse 16, Highlighted in green are words or themes that have already been addressed in the book of James, and so this section, 16, 17, and 18, is very much connected to that which has gone before. Notice with me our text, once again, verse 16. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good giving 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. Of his own will, He brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. John Blanchard has written of this section saying, nothing is ultimately more tragic than for a man to have a wrong conception of God because that one gigantic error will pervade all its thinking and behavior And at the end of the day, its fatal finger will point at his destiny. It is presumably for this kind of reason that James moves from the last words we studied to those before us now. In the previous passage, he was at pains to show that God is not the source of anything that is evil. Now he says that God is the source of everything that is good. Having pointed out the error, he now underlines the truth. So 13 through 15, God is not the source of anything that is evil. Don't blame it on God. And now, 16 through 18, God is the source of everything that is good. Well, come with me, if you care to look at your handout sheet, to Roman numeral one, as we begin our exposition here. Roman numeral one, the transitional warning. The transitional warning, verse 16a. We're looking at, first of all, A, that verse 16 looks back. It looks back. Do not be deceived. Let no one be thinking that God is the one who by his circumstances in my life is causing me to sin. Don't be deceived about that. James is here looking back. Man, even believing man, is inclined to blame God. And so Pastor James comes to those within the church. He first of all tells, no, don't blame God. And now he's saying, don't be deceived about this. Secondly, B, verse 16 warns of deception. Do not be deceived. Don't believe the lie. Having right views about God is very, very important. And we can branch this out because in Psalm 50, we hear in verse 21, God speaking to man saying, you thought I was one like yourself. But that's the fatal problem. We cannot think of God as being like us. Our understanding is much more limited. And so even with this whole thing with the problem of evil, we can say that God is the architect of a blueprint that includes sin, and yet at the same time, he does not tempt or nor induce us to sin. Well, who is your God? It was interesting to me to look back and see how many Christians address God in the scriptures. Jeremiah said, the Lord is the true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath, the earth quakes and the nations cannot endure his indignation. We can't come with a generic view of God. Well, the God that I worship is whatever I want him to be. No, the God that we worship must be the God of the Bible, the God of truth. Listen to how those in the days of Nehemiah approached God in their prayer and listen to all the ways that they speak of him. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. You are the Lord alone. You've made the heaven, the heaven of heavens, and with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. and you preserve all of them and the host of heaven worships you. Now, what does it do for us if we come with this expansive view of God? You're the one who has made all of the stars of all of the galaxies. You are the one who has made all of the animals on the earth. You are the one who has made all of those animals in the sea, things that we don't even know of yet. But most striking to me is to see how Nebuchadnezzar, remember this is the king that was warned of his pride. Daniel said, you gotta watch your pride. that God's message to you is that he's going to cut you off, he's going to bring you low, and you remember how God did that. Nebuchadnezzar begins the day saying, is this not the great Babylon that I have built? And he ends the day out of the palace out of his mind with the mind of a cow, eating grass. And then after a period of time, God restores to him his position and his sanity. And this is how he speaks to God. It's not, give me this, give me that. I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored him who lives forever. He's the Most High, he lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. And he does according to his will among the hosts of heaven, among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say to him, What have you done? Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven for all his works are right, and his ways are just, and those who walk in pride he is able to humble. So Pastor James is speaking to that first century congregation there in Jerusalem. And he is saying, not only the people out there in the world, but we believers are in danger when we fall into sin or walk into sin of blaming it on God. But we need to take care that we do not do that. James says, don't be deceived in your view about God. It's very important to know who God is. And now Roman numeral two. having seen the transitional warning, now the endearing address. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. James has been a, he has shown an earlier directness. He begins his epistle, I'm James, you're the 12 tribes, greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers. He gets down to the issues very quickly. There is a directness. Now, he does say, my brothers. But now, secondly, B, notice that Pastor James manifests a present warmth of affection. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. It's like he gets out a small hammer and taps him on the hand saying, don't be deceived. Now, that could be potentially offensive. You think I'm a doofus? You think that I am easily tricked? You're telling me that as a believer, I should not be deceived? And James says, yes, that's exactly the point. I'm glad I've got your attention. But if he is tapping on their hand with a small hammer in the first part of verse 16, he is then putting his arm around them in the latter part and calling them my beloved brothers. Beloved is the term that is built on agape love, the kind of love that believers are to have for one another. This term for my beloved brothers is the same term that God used of his son. This is my beloved son, the voice from heaven said, hear him. So Pastor James, warning of deception, moves along very quickly to put his arm around them. And there's a lesson that we can learn here in our dealing with people, isn't there? It is right for us to confront It's right for us, especially to those with whom we have a special relationship before God, a closer friend, pastor in the church, a husband and wife in that kind of relationship, a mom or a dad to children, We need to confront, we need to say, this is the right way. And we need at times to even be a little bit negative and say, do not be deceived. But it will be a tremendous help for us and for them in these various relationships if we can do like James and very quickly get the arm around them, my beloved brothers. Here is what you need to do to correct your thinking. But here I want you to know that you are deeply loved. I want the very best for you. I am committed to your good. I'm willing to even deny myself for you. Please understand as I say, do not be deceived that I do not regard you as some unbelieving hypocrite. I regard you as my beloved brother. So these endearing words are good for us. When we are speaking to someone and we need to point out a way of correction, may God help us to fulfill our duty but to speak the truth in love, to speak the truth and put the arm quickly around assuring of our love. We may even at times remind our friend that faithful are the wounds of a friend, but profuse are the kisses of an enemy. So there we've seen Roman numeral one, the transitional warning, Roman numeral two, the enduring address. And now come with me in Roman numeral three to see the heavenly gifts. And here we are in the first part of verse 17, the heavenly gifts. First of all, A, the process of God's good giving, the process of God's good giving. Notice with me, verse 17, as you see it in your text, it is in the ESV, every good gift. We could more accurately read that as every good giving. James uses two different forms of the same word, give or gift. But the first time he uses it, he is using a word that is speaking of the process of the giving. Maybe someone who is close to you has said, all right, I like what you did, but I didn't like the way that you did it, okay? Well, this is talking about the way that God gives a gift, the manner, the process. It's not so much the gift, that's the second time the word is used. But here, it's helpful for us to understand that man can give good gifts Man at times can be good enough to give a good gift. It's called common grace. Jesus said, if you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? However, the problem with the man, even as he gives a good gift, he may not give it with the best of motives. Let me illustrate. There is something of a stain that can come from our selfishness. Man's giving may not be sincere. His giving is in order to get. A politician may come in and say to his constituents, I've done such and such and such and such, and it's all for you that we have this new road that's being installed. And really, if we could get the read out of his heart, I've been able to manipulate my fellow representatives to get this thing to come to this district so that you will vote for me in the next election. Just can't say that. But we can be like that as well. We give with the thought of what we can get back from it. And Jesus cautions us that we ought to have into our home those who do not have the wherewithal to repay it to us so that we're not giving hospitality with the thought of what I can get out of it. Man's giving may not be the best gift. A man or a woman, a dad or a mom may give the most recent iPhone, may give the nicest clothes to the son, to the daughter, may do that over and over again, but that parent is unwilling to spend much time with the kid. They gave a gift, But they didn't give the gift that was really needed, the best gift. Well, that's different from God. Man's giving may not be sufficient. We're going to give something to North Carolina for their hurricane relief. All right. Here's two bucks. I can give two bucks. I can say. I gave to the North Carolina relief. Everybody gives two bucks, not a lot's gonna get done. But if everybody gives 200, or if everybody gives 2,000, then there's going to be a lot that can be done. It may not be sufficient, and yet I can say that I did, I'm giving, in a sense, for what I can get out of it. Man's giving may not be suitable. Imagine for Christmas, I give you a cigarette case and you don't even smoke. Well, I can expect there's gonna be a furrowed brow as you're unwrapping that present. It's not suitable, it's not what I wanted, it's not what I need. And Pastor James Point, is that when the thoroughly good God gives a gift, He is thoroughly good in the process of giving that gift. He the Father is sincere. He does it for our benefit. He gives the highest gift because He gives of Himself. He gives. of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he gives of God the Holy Spirit. God gives the right amount. He knows better than we do what that right amount is. And God gives the right gift. God gives us what we really need. He gives us the doing and dying of Jesus Christ to take away our sins, and He gives us the Holy Spirit to live in us and to help us. So you see what's going on if we're glancing back to verse 13 through 15? Here you are trying to blame God for your own carnality. And what you need to understand is that God is not tempted with evil. In fact, he is the one who, when he gives a gift, is thoroughly good in it. God is altogether unique as he gives by his grace. Every truly good process of giving is a giving that comes down from heaven. So A, the process of God's giving. Now B, the perfection of God's gifts. Every good giving and every perfect gift is from above. Perfection is the word that we've met with back there in James 1, 2 to 4, that you may be complete, that you may be perfect. When God gives a gift, it is complete. If God is going to give you a remote controlled car, the package is going to include batteries. He's going to give you everything that you need. It is complete and in that sense, perfect. God gives us this earth to live on. And it really is a wonderfully complete gift. We've got the necessities that we need to live. And we've got all of the variation of the various parts of the earth. We've got the variety of weather. We've got all of the beauty that is built into this world. When God gives us the gift of his son, Jesus Christ, it is a complete gift. He doesn't give us a gift that will cover 57% of your and my sin, and you simply need to come up with the payment of the other 43%. God's is a perfect gift. When God's Holy Spirit is given to us, it gives us the ability to bear fruit in all these different ways. We've got a love fruit, joy fruit, peace fruit, patience fruit, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. There is a completeness to the gifts that God gives. Now, thirdly, notice with me the plethora of God's gifts. I would have said abundance, but I noticed that I had two Ps already, so here's the third P. The plethora of God's gifts, the abundance of it. And this is based on the first word after the comma, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down. And the way that, the form that that word is in, this present participle, it's something, it's not just that God is giving gifts in the past. The rain, the showers of blessing are continuing on. Even in redemption, Jesus always lives to make intercession for his people. It's an ongoing gift, an ongoing care for us. Proverbs 19 and verse 14, a prudent wife is from the Lord. He's still giving gifts. Psalm 34 and verse 9, for those who fear him have no lack. Young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. God gives his gifts in a continuous bounty to us. Doesn't mean that we don't have trouble, but God sends the trouble to teach us lessons, to wean us off from this earth and to look to heaven. So the transitional warning the endearing address, the heavenly gifts, and now Roman numeral four, notice with me, the heavenly giver. And there are three observations that I want to make concerning the heavenly giver. What is God like? Well, what James highlights, first of all, is that A, God is our omnipotent creator. And where do I get that from? Well, James describes God as the father of lights. Now, what are the lights? Well, the lights are all the lights that are in the world. It's the sun. It's the moon. It's the 100 billion stars that are in the hundred billion galaxies. And that's a number that I can kind of remember and I saw recently it's higher than that. I'm not sure how you accurately estimate a hundred billion stars in each of the hundred billion galaxies. But however many there are and God only knows God is the one who fathered them. What does that mean? Well, to father something is that he brought them about. It is to say that God created them. God's the one who said, let there be light. And there was light. God is the one who said, let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs, for seasons, for days, and for years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth, and it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night and the stars, And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. He is the father of lights. And I think that if we just even spend this 30 seconds turning that phrase, father of lights, in our minds, we are brought to the fact that that God is of tremendous power and tremendous wisdom. He is the father of all of these lights. And when the scriptures underscore God's omnipotence in creation, what does it lead to? Well, listen to Psalm 33 and verse 6. By the word of the Lord, the heavens were made. Heavens come into existence. And by the breath of his mouth, all their host. James 1, 18. Notice what he's doing here. He's the father of lights, and he's also the one who brought us forth. Same word in verse 15, where sin, when it's reached its point, it brings forth death. Sin leads to the ugliest child of death. God, when he is bringing something forth, he is bringing forth children who are called here firstfruits of his creatures, things that he has created. And so I'm confident that when he says father of lights, he wants us to think of God as this one who says, let there be a sun, let there be a moon, let there be a hundred billion stars and a hundred billion galaxies in all of this diversity and all of this order and all of this arrangement. So how are we supposed to respond? father of lights. He decided there needed to be light and therefore he fathered it. Well there again Psalm 33 and now verse 8, you think about God speaking the heavens into existence. Now verse 8, let all the earth fear the Lord, Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him, for he spoke, and it came to be, he commanded, and it stood fast. Puny little man! Are you going to lecture the Creator God on how he works in our lives? Puny little man! Are you going to say to the Father of Lights, You caused me to sin. It's really your fault. No, we are to get on our faces and worship him. Puny little man. You need to understand that the creator, God, who made the lights, the father of lights, is also the one who made you and me to be spiritually interested in him. But you know there's another theme about light in the Bible, isn't there? One that talks about God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all, there's no sin. The theme that says that God is the only immortal one who has life in and of himself and who dwells in unapproachable light is a sense in which there's not a lot of danger of us seeing God because God dwells in this unapproachable light. God is good in the way that he gives us his gifts, and God is good in all of the perfect gifts that he gives to us. And God is the omnipotent creator of the lights. So let's have this high and lofty view of this God. So A, God is our omnipotent creator. But now still in the latter part of verse 17, see that God is our immutable heavenly father. These gifts are coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, no shadow due to change. What's the weather forecast? Do you think tomorrow's going to be like today? Probably not. I'm looking at the sun still shining out. Do you think the shadows from those trees along the road that I drove on the way that those shadows are going to be in the same place when I go home? Well, no. All that changes. The forecast for tomorrow is not a bright, sunshiny day, is it? Gray. Stormy gray. The lights are still there, but there is a variation depending on the time of day, a variation dependent on the time of the season and the angle that we sit to the sun. And there's a variation due to how many clouds there are in the sky. There are these lights that the father of lights has made and they're wonderful and the glorious, but they're constantly changing. But the one who made them does not change. I like my weather app that it tells me that last night the moon was at 25% of its normal circle. And I think it's nine more days as of last night that we'll have a full moon. I can't keep track of that. Is it waxing? Is it waning? The point is, there's always this change. But the God who made the sun and the moon to be the same size in the sky, even though one is 400 times larger, it's also 400 times further away. No doubt, a happy circumstance that just happened with a big bang. No, the father of all the wonderful but changing lights does not change. And I want us to look for a moment at Malachi chapter 3. If you want it in the Pew Bible, it's page 954. But Malachi chapter 3 gives us this parable, for I, the Lord, do not change. But notice the context. Malachi 3 begins, Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. There's going to be a Jesus coming, but a Jesus coming not only a first time, but a second time. Notice the judgment in verse 2. But who can endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap. down to verse five. In that day of judgment, I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. Christ is coming in judgment. But now verse six, for I the Lord do not change, therefore you children of Jacob are not consumed. Notice where he goes in the latter part of verse seven. Return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. It's a note of evangelism. Notice God does not change in his absolute holiness. What has been wrong before God is always wrong before God. What has been right before him continues to be right. God doesn't change in his holiness, and that's why Jesus had to die in our place. James is saying he's the father of lights in the sense that he is this great powerful one that brought them into existence. But more than that, he's saying he doesn't change. He's immutable. He is our immutable heavenly father. God does not change in his absolute commitment to save. He's holy. There's going to be a day of judgment, and yet he is inviting them, return to me. And we'll find something of that in our text here as well. So Yahweh is the God of the covenant. He is the God of the steadfast love of that covenant. He is, first of all, our omnipotent creator. Secondly, B, he is our immutable heavenly father. And now, C, God is our gracious, sovereign master. Do you see how verse 18 now fits together with this section? Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. He's the father of lights. He's the one who created the lights, but he's also the one who created you and me as believers, called creatures here, firstfruits of his creatures. Looking at verse 18, three questions, I think, maybe four. Who is the initiator and the actor in verse 18? Of his own will, he brought us forth. Well, the answer is plain. It is God who is the initiator and the actor. Having willed, he decided to bring us forth. Having decided that he'd bring us forth, he did bring us forth. This idea, this word of he brought us forth. It's the same word in verse 15 that sin brought forth sin. Sin brought forth death. Sin had a baby. God the Father fathered a child. It's us as believers. Second question, what is God's work in verse 18? Well, it's fathering children. It's creating children. It is spiritually creating and renovating believing children. And what's this language of firstfruits? Well, there's going to be a renovation of the heavens and the earth, but the renovation starts with individual sinners where God reaches in, takes out the heart of stone, puts in a heart of flesh that is beating for God. And what tool does God use in his work of creating believers? Well, it's a tool of the word of God. the word of truth. Do you see why the Bible needs to be front and center in the worship of a biblically ordered church? It is by this word of truth that God uses that to bring individuals to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you see why it is our regular pattern to read the word? to preach the word, to hear the word, to sing the word, and to some degree to pray the word back to our God? This is why Paul says to Timothy, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching. Fourth question. from verse 18. What work do God's spiritually created children do? Well, you can read verse 18 once and find the answer. Nothing. You can read it twice, ten times. It is all about what God is doing. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. However, look at verse 21. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. we're used to hearing repent and believe. And in verse 21 of James 1, we hear repent and receive. And it's really saying the same thing. For when I receive the word of God and bring it into me, I had believed in that word in order to bring it in close to me. This language of receiving the word is found in Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians 2, 13. And we also thank God constantly for this. that when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. A receiver of the word is a believer of the word. And perhaps the simplest summary of the gospel is Jesus Christ came, lived, and he died. He was buried. He was in the tomb three days. Put one hand on Jesus, put one hand on the stone, and Jesus is stone-cold dead. He wasn't in a coma. He wasn't in some sort of swoon. He was dead. And Christ was raised on the third day. And by this, Jesus is shown to be the Lord of glory by his resurrection from the dead. Listen to Paul. If you will confess that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. He takes the hardest thing for us to believe. Christ was stone cold dead and God raised him bodily, raised him physically from the dead. Do you believe it? If you believe that, you'll believe everything else concerning Jesus. But then he takes the hardest thing to say at a practical level. Jesus is Lord, and if you will confess with your mouth, Jesus is my boss, Jesus is my master, Jesus is my God, you will be saved. Well, may God help us. to appreciate the directness and yet the love of James. Don't be deceived. With the arm around the beloved brother, the heavenly gifts, there's a process that God gives and it's perfect. And the gift that God gives are complete, all that we need. Then the heavenly giver, He's God omnipotent. He's an omnipotent creator. He's an immutable heavenly father. And he is a gracious, sovereign master. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your holy word. We thank you that you use this word to bring about spiritual life. And we pray that you would take your word today and that you would make it to come alive, that perhaps someone would begin to understand the gospel at a level that they have never understood it before. Lord, you are the one who brings us forth. You are the one who makes us to be your spiritual creations. And we would ask that you would do that work in our midst here today. In Jesus name, we pray it. Amen.