Well, as I said, we continue in the book of James this evening, and so I invite you to turn in your Bibles to the book of James. If you're using the Pew Bible, that's found on page 1199, 1199 in the Pew Bible. We're going to consider this evening from verses 16 to 18, but I'm going to begin our reading for context and to tie it in together back at verse 12. So we'll be considering verses 16, 17, and 18, but we'll begin our reading at verse 12 of chapter 1. Hear now the very word of God. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life which god has promised to those who love him let no one say when he is tempted i'm being tempted by god for god cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire then desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death do not be deceived my beloved brothers every good gift 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 has brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures here ends the reading of god's word may he bless it to us well it's june i'm sorry yes it's june 2nd right June 2nd and we I'm shocked by the fact that it's June of 2024 and with June here we are approximately five months away from the beginning of the new year and Christmas and so with Christmas being five months away I'm sure with all the festivities being over and such when we think of the gifts that we maybe gave or received on that day of celebration, we might have forgotten what exactly those gifts were. I'm sure, children, you probably received some good gifts on Christmas morning, and it's possible that if I asked you today what it was that you received, you might not remember. That happens with gifts, doesn't it? When we receive a gift in the moment we're excited about it. We can't stop looking at it. We can't stop playing with it. We appreciate it. And yet then time goes on and we so easily forget how meaningful those things were. Sadly, that can also be the case when it comes to the good gifts that God has given to us. The Lord grants us something that maybe we were praying for diligently in the moment we're so appreciative but then over time we easily forget about it our appreciation grows dim and what's even more sad than just simply forgetting to appreciate all that God has given to us we forget that those things that he has given to us is a reflection of how good he is that he is indeed the source of all good things this happens right it happens with gifts but it particularly happens with the good things God gives to us when we are faced with trials when we're faced with difficulty James is writing about trials here. How to understand and think biblically about trials that happen in our lives. And one temptation that trials can bring before us is that they can tempt us to think that God is not indeed who He has said He is. That He's not as good as we once thought He was. You see, we can often as people, sinful people, be tempted to allow our circumstances and our experiences and our feelings to inform us on who God is and we can do that even more than trusting in what he has said in his word about him and that's one reason why James says here in verse 16 do not be deceived brothers that statement serves as something of a a bridge between what james has already said in verses 13 to 15 but it also serves to kind of bring us into verses 17 and 18 where james is warning his christian audience not to misinterpret who god is because of the circumstances and the trials that we may face at various times in life it's a big problem for us isn't it many christians today include and mistakenly interpret who God is based on their circumstances based on their feelings when things go well for us we say yes amen God is good he's good all the time as I remember saying in the evangelical church and things get a little more difficult when we don't feel like we're doing as well as we think we should when the experiences that we are experiencing aren't the experiences that we desire maybe we're tempted to say god isn't as good as we thought he was how could he allow this to happen why would he allow such a thing to happen we even do something like this with our salvation don't we when things are well we think to ourselves we're in God's good graces when things don't go so well we wonder have we done something is God punishing us see instead of basing who God is and even our position before him on our circumstances and on our experiences and feelings we must do so based on his word on his unchangeable and infallible word and that's what james is calling these christians to do here it's what scripture calls us to do and so james wants to impress upon us that god is indeed good He is good. He is the author of all good. And James will prove that to us by giving us or showing to us a very unique and personal gift that God has given to each of his children. And so tonight we have two points from this text before us. The good gift giver and the good gift. The good gift giver and the good gift. James begins in verse 17 with a universal statement about God and his gifts. He says, every good gift and perfect gift is from above. Gifts and gift giving can be complex things, can't they? Maybe we don't think much about it, but gifts can say a lot about us. Yes, anybody can run down to any store the night before Christmas or the night before an anniversary or the night before a birthday or graduation and get somebody for something for them. That's easy to do, right? Some of us husbands, we think to ourselves and we say, you know, that's been working for quite some time. I'm doing okay. But some of us here tonight maybe take a bit more thought in the gifts that we give. Maybe you have a special talent for giving good gifts or you're thoughtful. You don't wait until the last minute or the night before. You're a good listener and so you listen to the person and you come to hear and see and understand what they appreciate, what they enjoy, what they desire. You think of gift-giving as an opportunity. An opportunity to express to that person that you are giving the gift to your love, your appreciation for them. Gifts do do that, don't they? They do indeed express the love and care that we have for those that we give gifts to. It takes a special person, really, to be thoughtful about gifts. Now, even though there are some of us here, maybe tonight, that are one of those special people where we give good gifts, we put a lot of thought and energy into good gift giving, Let me ask you, if that's what you think of yourselves, can it be said of you that every gift that you have given has been good and perfect? Absolutely not, right? No matter how much time we put into giving a good, thoughtful gift, how much energy we might spend on that gift, I don't think we can ever say that every gift that we've given has been perfect and good all the time. That can only be said of God, right? That can only be said of our wonderful, benevolent, caring, loving, heavenly Father. That's what James says here. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. Notice how comprehensive that statement is. To combat any deception that we may be tempted to believe about God, James begins here with this overarching, comprehensive statement. A statement that's supposed to serve as something of a guard, a barrier, a shield against any temptation of questioning the character, nature of God. He begins this statement with the word every. What does the word every mean? It means each and every possible instance. Any and every example. Each time the Lord gives, it's in this particular way. Every means every. It's all inclusive. It's comprehensive. It's exhaustive. And it includes every instance in the past, every instance in the present, any instance in the future. The word every encompasses everything that the Lord has ever given to us as His children. There's no time, no occasion, no situation when God gives to us that that gift is not good and perfect in itself. And that really leads to the next thing that James says in this comprehensive statement. He uses the word good. What does it mean for something to be good? It means it's pure, it's beneficial. The word good is a descriptive term, right? It's an adjective. It speaks to the quality, the condition, the character in which God gives. Let me just say here that this good that James is describing of God's good gifts to us isn't a relative good it's an objective good it isn't the good that we believe is good so far as we interpret it to be good or desire the thing that he has given to us we do that right we base something as being good based on whether we actually want it or appreciate it if we desire it then it's good we think of it as such but if we don't desire it then how could it be good we don't want that that's what i mean when i say that something is relatively good the good that james speaks of here is objectively good it's good in and of itself let me explain this or illustrate this with a simple point in terms of children and vegetables children vegetables are good for you i know you don't think they're good right relative to you you think vegetables could be one of the worst things i've been trying to get my children to eat a particular drink it's called kefir or kefir if you're crunchy like those in my family then you know what that is but uh they hate it and i can understand that but it's good for them good not because they want it it's good for them that's what james is speaking of here the good gifts that god gives objectively good james is speaking of the inherent quality and character of the things god gives to his people but it's not just what god gives that is good but james speaks of the act of god giving being good in and of itself notice verse 17 says james there says every good gift and every perfect gift it would seem like james uses the word gift twice here he speaks of good gift and perfect gift but that first word there translated as gift can also be translated as giving so that it might read every good giving and every perfect gift comes from god you see james isn't only speaking of particular gifts that god gives but in this comprehensive statement james is saying the act of god giving is also a good perfect act it's good in itself when we give gifts we sometimes do so for sinful reasons don't we we do so maybe for selfish reasons maybe we give a gift to schmooze someone over to win their heart to persuade them to get them on our side to earn favor with them in our sinfulness we we can do those kinds of things our acts of giving are not always pure always good always perfect but gods are every giving of god is good every act of blessing every act of bestowing is good always his reasons are always good his intentions are upright his motives always pure that's why james uses another word to describe god's gift giving here he uses the word perfect perfect now that's a word that can hardly ever be ascribed to us or anything that we do right even when we use the word perfect we often do so in a relative way again right like that's perfect meaning that's good enough that's that's enough that's not what perfect means when described or ascribed to god or something that he does his giving and gifts giving in and of themselves are perfect they're perfect fully sufficient necessary lacking nothing they're flawless think of a bullseye i was playing uh not dart throwing but axe throwing at one of the uh the the um graduation parties yesterday and think of a bullseye you know when we give gifts maybe we can somehow get on one of those outer edges of that bullseye god hits the mark every single time his giving is perfect complete entirely what's the point of all this why why is james giving us here such a comprehensive statement here well remember as i mentioned some of us have a special talent for giving good gifts because giving those gifts reflects the way we feel or expresses what we think of that person. James knows this, and this is why he takes special care here with this comprehensive statement in regards to God and His gift-giving to us. He wants us to realize that even in the face of trial, God is still good. He's still perfect. And all that He gives to us is good and perfect. And what does this communicate to us as His children? What does it say about how God feels to us? It should communicate to us that He loves us. He loves us with an everlasting love. He loves us with a good and perfect love. A love that is eternal. A love that will never end. His good and perfect gifts to us express his good and perfect care for us that he cares for each of us so much that he only gives that which is good this especially speaks to the character and nature of god doesn't it james point here isn't just that god gives good things but that he gives good things because those things are a reflection of him he can only give good things he's the good and perfect god jesus says in matthew 7 if you then who are 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 of him the character of the things that god gives reflects his character he who is perfectly pure perfectly holy perfectly righteous that's why james uses language of these good and perfect gifts coming from above coming down from the father of lights to the language of above speaks of what is pure what is morally spotless perfect it ascribes or describes something that is heavenly the bible makes much use of the language of things from above or things that are below james introduces that language here to us in this text but he's going to go on in james 3 to speak of wisdom and he speaks of two kinds of wisdom wisdom from above and wisdom from below listen what he says in james 3 15 this is not the wisdom that comes down from above but is earthly unspiritual demonic for jealousy and selfish ambition exists there will be disorder in every vile practice but the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. The way that James describes wisdom that comes from above is characteristic of the gifts that come from above. It's upon such ideas that Paul tells us to set our minds upon in Colossians three set your minds upon the things that are above not on the things that are on earth see the things that are above are characteristically godly things good things heavenly things and these things are good and heavenly because they're characteristic of god who dwells far above heaven and earth. And it is this God who himself is pure, righteous, peaceful, gentle, merciful, good, impartial, loving, true, all-wise, all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present. And his gifts are perfect and good because they reflect him and his character. Now to further impress this point upon his readers James turns his focus from the gifts to the giving of from the gifts and giving to God himself he makes this transition by first calling God the father of lights says every good gift and perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of lights this reference of God as the father of lights is a reference to God's creative power the lights to which God is the father of are the heavenly lights, the sun, the moon, the stars. Remember back in Genesis, after God said on day one, let there be light, God created lights to govern the day from the night on day three. And there, God, at the end of every day after creating, said, they are good. The lights James refers to here are heavenly lights. See, this was a Jewish way of referring to God's creative powers, His absolute good and perfect creative powers. He's the creator of all things. And remember, after creating again, He declared those things to be good. His creating power reflects His goodness, His kindness, His benevolence. See, contrary to what some may think and believe today, God is not a watchmaker who set the universe up and then just walked away and left it to unwind on its own. God cares for that which He created. God is involved in creation. We heard that this morning, didn't we? Jesus in Matthew 6, Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Yes, God is imminent. He's above His creation. He is the heavenly Father. And yet, he is so involved, so imminent in his creation that he even cares for the birds of the air. I'm no bird watcher, but I know that birds are beautiful and magnificent creatures. As Reverend Gordon said this morning, if you get up early, you probably get up to the sound of birds. But I think if you're not a bird watcher, it's easy to simply disregard birds. they can at the same time seem so ordinary they're everywhere they kind of just fly into moments of our lives and they fly right out if god cares for the birds of the air how much more can we be assured that he will care for us jesus asks aren't you more valuable than they absolutely absolutely we are so if we he that he carefully cares for us he he loves us he's our heavenly father and we know his care beyond a shadow of a doubt particularly when we think of christ the god of creation the god who cares for his creation even the ordinary birds of the air gave to us His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. And He did that to redeem us from our sin, to save us from our sin. And Paul reminds us of the depth of God's love when he says, look, one will scarcely die for a righteous person, but God shows His love for us. And that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. Here's the thing, friend. You want to see the goodness of God. You want to see the good and perfect gift and givings of God. Look no further than to the cross. Think no further than upon Jesus Christ, the perfect, spotless Lamb of God who was sacrificed for you and your sin. That's the extent of God's perfect goodness to you. That's how we can be sure, truly sure, that He cares about us, that He loves us. It all goes back to Christ and His sacrifice. And so if He didn't withhold from us His very own Son, why would He not provide us with everything we need for life and faith? he will he has and he will continue to do so and just in case doubt still lingers in the minds of james's audience here james says one more thing about this good gracious loving gift giver he tells us he doesn't change he doesn't change god is good all the time God is constantly good. What a comforting truth this is for us, particularly in the face of trial, that we know that God does not change. He isn't good just part of the time. He's always good. See, James mentions the heavenly lights here not only to speak of God's creative power but also to contrast God's nature with the changing nature of creation. He is the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. The language of variation and shadow due to change is language that refers to the heavenly bodies. The sun, the moon, the stars, they shift in the sky, right? We just celebrated the shadow of one upon the other. An eclipse. We know that nature changes. that's true of all creation it says as the ancient philosopher heraclitus once said you can't step into the same river twice change is everywhere it's everywhere change too is constant we know change in our own lives don't we i think it's when i turned 40 that i realized i'm not the young 20 year old that i once was change happens to us but that's not true of god he never changes god is immutable children say the word immutable that's a that's a big word isn't it it means god doesn't change he's unchanging forever the same already fully good already fully perfect he doesn't change not in the slightest not in his being not in his will not in his character god is who he is he is the great i am the same yesterday today tomorrow psalm 102 says of old you laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands they will perish but you will remain they will all wear out like a garment you will change them like a robe and they will pass away but you are the same and your years have no end this too is good news for us friends isn't it this means that god will never listen to that never never ever be untrue unloving unkind unjust what comfort that is for us to know this the character of god is the same today it will be the same tomorrow it will be the same forever he is the good gift giving god we know that the ultimate gift of god is jesus christ and in christ we have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places as described in ephesians chapter one but one of the most personal intimate blessings that we have in jesus christ is the personal blessing of new life of regeneration regeneration is a gift that each and every christian is familiar with knows intimately and personally and so along with the universal comprehensive statement about god here and as stated in verse 17 James goes on to speak of the universal gift that God gives to all of his children the gift of regeneration he says in verse 18 of his own will he brought us forth by the word of his truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures children there are a number of gifts that god has given to you right if i was to ask you to list the top three gifts that god has given to you i'm guessing the first one would probably be jesus right because you're good sunday school kids and you know that jesus is almost always the answer to a sunday school question and so this time you certainly got it right but what would number two or number three be? Number two might be life. God has created you. Maybe number three might be mom, maybe dad, your parents, your family. Well, there's another good gift that God has given to all his children, and that's the gift of regeneration, the gift of new life in Jesus christ for those in christ god has recreated us he renews us he transforms us bible calls this transformation different things at different times in the old testament it was called a new heart in ezekiel 36 and jeremiah 31 jesus calls it rebirth or being born again in john 3 paul calls it new creation in second corinthians 5 and james calls it being brought forth by the word of truth here in the text before us look down again with me at verse 18 you see the two words they're brought forth in the greek that's really one compound word in the most literal sense of the word it means to give birth to just as james knows that god cannot change he is always and constantly good according to his nature james knows that men on their own apart from the work of god also cannot change we're sinners and we live according to our nature as jeremiah 13 asked can an ethiopian change his skin or a leopard its spots neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil romans 8 says for the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to god for it does not submit to God's law indeed it cannot we're all born into this world sinful and unable incapable of doing anything good on our own it's our nature as our catechism says to hate God and our neighbor Ephesians 2 puts it this way and you were dead in the trespasses and sin in which you once walked. You were dead. Dead people can't do anything. See, left to ourselves, that is us. Each and every one of us would be spiritually dead. Cannot change or help our circumstance or situation. We are in need. In need of somebody outside of us to enact that change upon us. That someone is the good and perfect gift-giving God. God cannot change, but that doesn't mean that He can't create change in us. He does. As the Puritan theologian Stephen Sharnock once said, God is an immovable rock. We are floating in uncertain creatures. While He seems to approach to us, He does really make us approach to Him. He comes not to us by any change of place Himself, but draws us to Him by a change of mind, will, and affection in us. It is God who brings about that change. James says here that it is of His own will, which reminds us that there was nothing in us that would cause God to work in us. It was simply, purely of His gracious will. Gifts like that are difficult for us to imagine, aren't they? Why would God choose any one of us to recreate us anew, to open the eyes of our heart, to give us the gift of faith? Have you ever had a gift given to you for no apparent reason? A gift that came out of nowhere. closest thing that i could think of this week was me and my family eating out at a restaurant once we don't often eat out because we have four children and things can get messy and of course today can get very pricey but towards the end of our meal the waitress comes over to us and says a fellow guest in the restaurant covered your tab they said they appreciated seeing a family out to dinner and so they went ahead and covered your bill we were shocked out of nowhere this gift and after the initial shock of course we were humbled now when something like that happens to you it's not difficult to want to in turn bless others in a similar way you see grace begets grace doesn't it the work of god's grace in our lives moves us or should move us to be gracious to others. God's grace moves us to live lives of grace. And that's really the point and purpose of God's gift of grace to us. He works in us so that we might shine forth that work. James ends this passage here by saying that God works in us that we would be a kind of first fruits of his creatures james point here is pretty magnificent when you think about it you see the idea of the first fruits goes back to the offering of first fruits the time of harvest the israelites were required to give the first crop of the harvest which was the first and best part of the crop see the first fruits was a a sign of more fruit to come but the Israelites were required to give that to the Lord as a sign of their trust and faith in him. We're told here in this passage that we are the first fruits of God's new creation. The first fruits of God's new creation. We are a sign of more to come. Let that sink in for a moment let that sink in and let that truth take over any thought of you struggling and wrestling with those sins that seem to so easily grip us sins that we feel like maybe have mastered us or enslaved us brother and sister you are the first fruit of god's new creation the sign and symbol of more to come. And yes, inwardly we groan for the fullness of that recreation, just as the creation groans inward, waiting for the full revelation of the sons of God. We too groan. But that very groaning itself is evidence of change, real, true, eternal, lasting change that the Lord has produced in us. Well, the first fruits of that change how encouraging this is see one day this world will be entirely transformed we will be entirely transformed revelation 21 speaks of a new heavens a new earth and in the new heavens a new earth everything will be transformed it'll be a whole new world where everything is recreated gloriously and according to God's plan. The world longs for this, doesn't it? The people of the world long for this. They sing songs of a whole new world. Maybe you're familiar with the movie Aladdin. I've never seen it. I've only heard the song. The world longs for real, true, lasting change. That's what God promises to us. And we today, now, because of God's gracious, regenerating work, are the first part of that change to come. Brothers and sisters, God has blessed us with a magnificent gift. And so now, as we go out into the world, we do so armed, equipped, strengthened to live for Christ. displaying the magnificent work that he has done in and through us. Given what we've considered tonight, how can we ever forget the good gifts that God has given to us? How could we ever forget our God who is indeed the good gift giver? He's good. He's good all the time. Let's pray. What a wonderful text, Lord, that stands before us tonight reminding us of your goodness. Particularly as we face trials of various kinds in life, Lord. Father, we are indeed weak, feeble. We need your strength. We need your spirit. We need you to remind us, Lord, that indeed you have begun a good work in us and you will bring that work to completion. Strengthen our faith. Remind us that you indeed are always trustworthy for you are good. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.