Good morning, everyone. It is my great privilege and honor to be tasked with bringing to us the Word of God. So pray as we are preaching that the Word of God will run freely among us, that He will bring us to oneness in Him in pursuit of His design and desire for this world, to reconcile all things to Himself in heaven and on earth, for the glory and praise of our God and Father. Our text today is from James chapter 1, so if you would please stand. I'm reading from James chapter 1, beginning at verse 18 all the way through verse 25. James chapter 1, verse 18 through 25, this is, beloved, James, writing by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, this is the very word of our God. James writes, in the exercise of his will, he brought us forth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of first fruits among his creatures. You know this, or know this, my beloved brethren, but everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Amen? Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility or in meekness, receive the word implanted, which James says is able to save our souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror. For once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer, but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does." Let me pray for us. Our God and Father, thank you for your word, the word of the truth of the gospel. We say as one man that you have done great things for us in Jesus Christ. You have brought our lives up from the pit. You've delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of your love. In Christ, you have brought us from death to life, from darkness into light. So give us, I pray. The spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of you, open the eyes of our hearts that we may know what is the hope of your calling, what are the riches of the glory of your inheritance in the saints of which you have made us partakers in Christ. and that we may know what is the exceeding greatness of your power toward us who believe according to the working of your mighty power which you worked in Christ when you raised him from the dead and seated him at your right hand in the heavenly places. This is your work in us for your namesake. We love you, Father, and praise you, and pray in Jesus' name. Amen. If you would remain standing as we sing the Gloria Patri. James' focus in his short letter is on practical religion, and by practical religion, I mean applied theology. In other words, living according to the truth of Christianity day by day. So he says such things as, faith without works is dead, and I will show you my faith by my works. His point is simple. If you say, if we say we are Christians, Prove it by word and by deed. So he says to us, do good, tame your tongue, visit orphans and widows in their distress. Don't show partiality to the rich and famous. Meet the needs of your brothers and sisters in Christ. Don't live like the world. His goal in chapter one is to instruct Christians in perseverance while under the trials of this life. You know, hardship, pain, sickness, loss, death, disappointment, betrayal, persecution, poverty, abuse, injustice, and so on. so that, he's training them in perseverance, so that their faith in God, that our faith in God is not destroyed, but strengthened and matured, leading to the promised blessing of God and eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. We might justly say that learning to joyfully persevere in faith through all the painful ordeals of this life is the big idea of chapter one. Trials, James teaches us, are designed by God for two purposes, to prove Christians and to improve them. In verse two he writes, count it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. That is the improvement part. Now here's the proving part. In verse 12, James writes, blessed is the man who perseveres under trial. For once he has been approved, and that word in the Greek means once he passes the test, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him. Trials then aim to promote both maturity in Christ and increased assurance of one's eternal reward from Christ. The Apostle Peter says very much the same thing in 1 Peter 1, verses 6 and 7. He writes this, in this you greatly rejoice, and he's talking about the inheritance that is reserved for us in the heavens who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. He says, in this, you greatly rejoice. Though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, you love. The way to maturity in Christ and the way of eternal glory, and I would say to us this morning that that is one way, not two ways. The way of maturity and the way of eternal life is one way, and it is beset, as many of us know, beset with many painful trials for our good. Now, beginning in verse 19, James terms to focus on the spiritual preparation necessary for Christians to profit from God's Word. As Reformed people, we say that the Word of God is the means of grace for perseverance, right? We say that perseverance is nothing else than the integrity the integrity and uncompromising faithfulness of Christians to keep obedience to God's word under the pressure and pain of the trials of this life. David writes in Psalm 25 verses 20 and 21. This is his prayer. Guard my soul and deliver me. Do not let me be ashamed of my hope. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you." Implied in what James writes in verses 19 through 25 is, for us, a well-known truth. And that well-known truth is this, not everyone who hears God's word, not everyone who hears God's word is saved by it or sanctified by it, even though, as James writes in verse 21, you see in verse 21, he says that God's word is what? Able, powerful to save our souls. There is spiritual preparation required. Our minds, James says, must be prepared to hear God's word. That is, by the way, verses 19 and 20. Our hearts must be prepared to receive it. That's verse 21. Our wills must be prepared spiritually to obey it. That's verses 22 through 24. And finally, our lives must be prepared. And what I mean by that, and what James means, our lives must be ordered and organized to build on the word of God. This morning, we will look at just one aspect of a mind prepared to profit from God's Word. And here's what I want us to focus on. James says that Christians, that we must know who and what we are in Christ, or we must know who and why we are in Jesus Christ to profit from the hearing of God's Word. So let's pick that up. James's command in verse 19 to know this, you see, he says, you know this, my beloved brethren, or the command is know this, my beloved brethren. That command refers most immediately to his teaching in verse 18, that God, in the exercise of his will brought us forth by the word of truth that we would be a kind of first fruits among his creatures. And then he commands in verse 19a, know this my beloved brethren, know it. He commands them to know this truth meaning He wants us to firmly fix it in our minds, to regard it as an indisputable fact, and to believe it unquestioningly. Now notice what he says in verse 18 about what God does for us in Christ when he brings us forth by the word of truth. He says, first, God brings us forth, literally in the Greek, he gives spiritual birth to us. Secondly, he does this sovereignly, freely, and graciously, James says he, He willed it, in the Greek it's having willed it, referring to eternity past. Having willed it, he does it. Third, he accomplishes our spiritual rebirth by the word of truth. The same word of truth by which He brings us to spiritual birth and life in Christ is the same word now in verses 19 through 25 that James is telling us that God wills for us to be sanctified by it. And finally, God has done this. so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures. And all I did was break down verse 18 into those four statements. In verse 18, in other words, we have an identity statement and a purpose statement for Christians. This is our identity in Christ, James tells us. We are those whom God has brought forth by the word of truth to be a kind of first fruits among his creatures. That is our identity, and James uses this unusual Old Testament reference to make that point. And in addition to being our identity, it is our purpose. As verse 18 makes clear, God, who willed from the past that we should be redeemed by the blood of Christ and saved through the preaching of the gospel, did it for this purpose, that we would be among His creatures in His world, what James calls firstfruits among His creatures. This command in verse 19 to know this then relates to a foundational and indeed a fundamental truth describing who we are in Christ, our new identity in Christ, and God's restored purpose for us in Christ, the correct way James teaches the correct way for us to know ourselves and the purpose of our lives is defined and directed by the fact, and I use that word intentionally. by the fact, by the reality that this is what God has done for us, who we are, and why we are in Him. As James' command to know this, to fix this truth in our minds introduces his teaching on how we are to use, receive, and use God's Word profitably. we have to conclude that the knowledge of this truth, the knowledge of this truth, accepted, understood, and believed is essential to properly hearing and powerfully benefiting from God's word. If indeed we are in Christ, if indeed we are in Christ, Our self-perception must be brought in line with the fact of what is, what is as a factual matter and what is as a matter of reality. Our self-perception must be brought in line with the truth of what is because of what God has done for us and is doing in us and through us in Christ. In other words, The purpose or the person who profits from God's Word is a person who not only, in fact, is a kind of first fruits of God's creatures, having been born again, in other words, who not only is a born-again Christian, but who also undoubtedly knows himself to be such, and undoubtedly knows what it means for his life and his future that he is such. Does that make sense? By calling them firstfruits, James is conveying to them that in Christ they are We are different than we were before. Now we use that phrase all the time. But here James is highlighting the truth that we are not superficially different because we happen to call ourselves Christians or because we have associated ourselves with a church or a new group of people or because we practice certain religious rituals or because we hold to certain doctrines. He means that we are really different. We are really different in divine, spiritual, supernatural, powerful, and eternal ways. We are really different, fundamentally different from those who are not in Christ, who are not firstfruits, which leads us to ask the further question. What is the difference James intends to convey and wants us to fix in our minds by calling us first fruits among God's creatures, as that is both an identity statement and a purpose statement for our lives? The essence of the Old Testament doctrine of firstfruits is on the one hand, a voluntary dedication to God in a joyful act of worship. That's one aspect of the essence of the doctrine of firstfruits in the Old Testament. A voluntary dedication to God in a joyful act of worship. On the other hand, the essence of the doctrine is this, that it is a visible display of God's faithfulness to His covenant promises to bless and to deliver His people. Let me give you an idea from Deuteronomy chapter 26, verses one through 11, which talks about the offering of firstfruits and alludes to the festival or the feast of firstfruits. In Deuteronomy 26, 1 through 11, God commands Israel through Moses that once they enter into the promised land, they are to offer to him year by year the first fruits of their crops in remembrance of his deliverance of them from bondage in Egypt, and, so not just in remembrance, but also in recognition of his bountiful blessings upon them in the promised land. The ritual, the first fruits ritual prescribed that a person bring a basket of grain to the priest, to the temple, to the tent of meeting, and recite before the priest these words, quote, now behold, I have brought the first of the produce of the ground which you, O Lord, have given me. And after reciting that statement, they were to place the basket In the words of Moses, quote, before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God and later to gather with the congregation of God's people and, quote, rejoice in all the good which the Lord your God has given you and your household. A voluntary dedication to God. as a joyful act of worship and a visible display of God's faithfulness to his covenant promises to bless and deliver his people. In the New Testament, the full significance of this Old Testament doctrine of firstfruits is revealed in Jesus Christ and fulfilled by him. He is the first fruits of the resurrection from the dead. That's what he's called. The first fruits of the resurrection from the dead because his bodily resurrection is the consummate display of God's faithfulness to his covenant promises to bless and deliver his people, right? It is the consummate display of this covenant faithfulness of God and His resurrection from the dead calls for all men everywhere to dedicate themselves to God in a joyful act of worship. And by the way, you might consider Acts 17, Paul's Mars Hill Sermon as a reference regarding that. Christ's resurrection from the dead is a universal call. for all men everywhere voluntarily to dedicate their lives to God in a joyful act of worship. Paul tells us, we who are Christian, have the first fruits of the Spirit, meaning we possess and experience the beginnings of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, and that sanctifying work of the first fruits of the Spirit produces two things, doesn't it? a visible display of God's faithfulness to his covenant promises, witnessed in the holiness and the righteousness of our lives, and having the firstfruits of the Spirit entails on our part a voluntary dedication of our lives to God to live for Christ in a joyful or as a joyful act of worship. In Romans chapter 12, beginning at verse 1, picks up on this principle of the firstfruits, having spent 11 chapters explaining and vindicating the doctrine of justification by faith alone, in Christ alone, through grace alone, for the glory of God alone. Having done that, his first words are based on the principle of firstfruits. Therefore, my brethren, I urge you by the mercies of God to do what? To present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. There it is. So, James's command to know this, aims to recalibrate the way we think about ourselves, who we are, and how we think about the purpose of our lives, why we are. And then the question is, well, why are you trying to do that, James? What's the point of doing that? And what's the connection with the word of God? And here it is. He aims to recalibrate our thinking about who we are and why we are as a crucial step as a crucial step in being sanctified by God's word. And again, Paul makes the same point when in focusing on the formation of the Christian mind as a necessary step in the process of sanctification of the whole person, he says this to us. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, the same truth, the same teaching. Let me close by giving us a number of applications and uses. First, a Christian whose mind is prepared to hear and profit from God's Word, And this is the obvious point James makes, a Christian whose mind is prepared to hear and profit from God's Word knows, meaning he embraces the fact, the truth, and the reality of who he is in Christ and why he is in Christ. He knows that having been born of God, his life is dedicated to God, to live for Christ as a joyful act of worship. He knows, because he knows this truth, that God created him in Christ to visibly display to visibly display in you and in me to the whole world the truth of the gospel for the glory of God in word and in deed. Second, a Christian who defines his identity and purpose biblically, and here's the subtext. A Christian who defines his identity and purpose biblically, in other words, in accordance with what James teaches in verses 18, 19, and 20, he or she will take God's word as the controlling rule and guide for his life. See the connection? That's a necessary step in sanctification. That is a spiritual preparation to hear the Word, that knowing who you are, you will feed on God's Word as the controlling rule and guide of your life. And consistent with this identity and purpose, A Christian will be earnestly seeking to build his life, comprehensively build his life on God's Word, knowing that it is God's appointed means to enable him to be, to become what he is in Christ. Voluntary dedication is a joyful act of worship, visible display of God's faithfulness to his covenant promises. And the means by which we attain to that for which God saved us is his word. That's what James is telling us. Three, third, some may say to me, Tom, I already know this. I have no doubt that you all know this. This is a, as I said to Ryan earlier, I know this is an extraordinarily well-taught congregation. But the point for us this morning is not whether we know the bare doctrine, but whether each one of us, in fact, identifies himself or herself in this way. how a person defines his identity and his purpose in life. And it's not dissimilar, is it, from the first question and answer in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, is it? The Westminster divines had the same goal in mind. What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever. how a person defines his identity and purpose will chart the course of his entire life. Do you agree? It'll chart the course of his entire life. If we doubt it, let me give us a stark example from our own day. Consider the young people in our community even, who being indoctrinated in gender ideology, tragically undergo gender transition therapies and surgeries to change their sex. It is because they think they are a different sex that they pursue this course of action to the destruction of their bodies and perhaps of their souls. One more thing and I'm done. We have in this text a biblical standard by which we may examine ourselves before the Lord. biblical standard by which we may examine ourselves before the Lord. We say we know that God has graciously brought us forth by the word of truth to be a kind of firstfruits among His creatures. We say that we know that, yes, Tom, this is our identity and this is our purpose. But does that knowledge, is that knowledge, the knowledge of that truth, the knowledge of your new identity, the knowledge of your restored purpose, the magnitude of the grace of God, is it driving you to God's word, to live out day by day the reality of who we are in Christ? That's the question. Let me pray for us. our God and Father. We would say with the psalmist, when you brought back our captivity, we were like those who dreamed. Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with joyful shouting. Then they said among the nations, God has done great things for us. And we say, You have done great things for us, our God. We are glad. Grant us grace now, now, in the following days that you have ordained for our lives, that we would build our lives self-consciously, purposefully, diligently, earnestly on Your Word to become who we are in Christ for the glory of Your name, for the visible display of Christ in the world, for the advancement of Your kingdom, for the salvation of Your people, and for their progress and joy of faith. This is our prayer. And I pray the longing of our hearts in this crucial hour. We love you and thank you. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.