We're going to continue our study
in the book of James. Our journey through James. It's
been such a blessing to study this book. It's been one that's
been on my heart for quite a while. I thought it was time to preach
on this. Today we're going to be looking
at the topic of every good and perfect gift. And we'll continue
our study in this wonderful book. So far in our study, we've looked
at verses 1-16, and we have received instruction for when we go through
trials during our time in this world, which we will go through
trials. We will. And the Scripture doesn't
tell us how long they will be, as we've seen earlier in the
study of this first chapter of the book of James. But one thing
we do know is we're going to go through trials. And every
one of us will go through them as believers. And they come our
way. But let us always remember that when these trials come our
way, they come our way according to the divine providence of God.
And He's ever watching over us through all these trials and
tribulations which we go through. And they prove our faith to be
genuine, don't they? They prove our faith to be genuine.
And what do they cause us to do ultimately? Ultimately, they
cause us to look to Christ. They cause us to look to Him.
To look away from ourselves. To look outside ourselves. And
to look to He who is our salvation. He who is our wisdom. He who
is our righteousness. He who is our sanctification.
And He who is our redemption, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
what they cause us to do. Just to cling to Him. just to
cling to Him. Let's read verses 12 to 18 to
see the context of our verse today. Today we'll be looking
at verse 17, but I'd like us to read the context of verses
12 to 18. Blessed is the man that endureth
temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of
life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. And we
saw that that's eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Let
no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God
cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempted He any man."
And here now, James is going to show us where the root cause
of our sin is. It's in us. It's in us. Because verse 15
said, Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God.
For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempted He any
man. Look at this. But every man is tempted when
he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath
conceived it, bring it forth sin. And sin, when it is finished,
bring it forth death." So the fruit of sin is death. We know the wages of sin is death,
but the fruit of sin is death. And then, look at this, it's
a warning for us. as believers. Do not err, my
beloved brethren. Now here we go. Every good gift
and every perfect gift is from above. And come it down from
the Father of lives, with whom is no variableness, neither shall
I turn it. And in verse 18, of His own will
begot He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind
of first fruits of His creatures. Now today we're going to look
at how every good and perfect gift comes from above. It comes
from above. It comes from the sovereign throne
of God. Whether in nature, whether in
providence, or whether in grace. And we see this clearly about
fourth in verse 17. It says, every good gift and
every perfect gift is from above. Where did Christ come from? He
came from above, didn't He? And the Father sent Him here.
Scripture says He was manifested to take away our sins. And in
Him was no sin. He's the ultimate gift from Heaven,
isn't He? He's the ultimate gift from above.
Because in Him, for the believer, He's all our righteousness, isn't
He? He's all our sanctification. He's all our wisdom. And He's
all our redemption as well, isn't He? Because outside of Christ,
we have no redemption. We have no sanctification. We
have no wisdom, just worldly wisdom. He's everything to us. And we
have no righteousness without Christ. Because our righteousness
is like filthy rags in the eyes of the Lord. But in Christ, we
have everything. All spiritual blessings are wrapped
up in Him. All spiritual blessings. Any
spiritual blessings we have are in Christ and Him alone. And
they flow out to the sinner from the Father. They flow out from
the Father through Christ to the sinner. To the born-again,
blood-washed saint of God. And it all comes about by God's
sovereign, almighty grace. And again, we see that in verses
13 to 16, We are to take full blame for
our sin. It comes from us. It comes from within. And then
what are we to do? We're to ascribe all glory and
honor and praise to the One who saved us who's outside of us.
And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. See, that's why Brother Scott
Richard used to say, we look out from ourselves and we look
above to Christ. We do, don't we? He's our only
hope, beloved. We have no hope outside of Christ.
And then it says every good gift and perfect gift comes down from
the Father of lights. You know, the psalmist said this,
not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory
for Thy mercy and for Thy true sake. Mercy of God flows from
above, doesn't it? It comes down to us in Christ. And then we glorify God. We glorify
God for saving us from all our sins. Now, some people in their
ignorance will charge God with their sin. And let me make this
clear that when we sin, that sin in no way originates in God.
It comes from our own depraved heart. We saw that in last week's study,
didn't we? And James wrote this to distinguish
between the trials of faith, temptations into which all believers
fall that are sent from God with the intent and design and result
of bringing us to fix our hearts and minds upon Christ and Him
alone. That's what these things are designed to do. To drive
us to Christ, beloved. To drive us to Christ. And beloved of God, men both
saved and lost are incapable of rationally embracing the concept
of God's absolute sovereignty. We believe it, but do we really grasp it? No. He's in absolute control, beloved,
and men Both saved and lost have difficulty in rationalizing that
God is in control of all things, and yet we are held accountable
for our own temptations to sin. Turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. My, oh my. Man's without excuse,
beloved. Man's without excuse. Romans 9, verses 15-20. For he saith to Moses, I'll have mercy
on whom I'll have mercy. That's God above saying that.
So if God's had mercy on you, it's come from above, beloved.
And it's come in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's His precious blood that's
redeemed your eternal soul. And the faith that we have to
look to Christ is a gift from God, too, isn't it? That comes
from above, too, beloved. The regenerating power of the
Holy Spirit comes from above, too. God gets all the glory, beloved.
But look at this. Put yourself in there. I'll have
mercy on whom I'll have mercy. Well, that's me. He had mercy
on me. Each one of us can say that. He's had compassion upon
me. Wonder of wonders. God Almighty's
done this. For He saith, Moses, I will have
mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom
I have compassion. So then it is not of Him that
willeth. Look at that. It's not of our will. Because
our natural will is to run away from God. So Scripture says,
not of Him that willeth, nor of Him that runneth, but of God
that showeth mercy. Where does that mercy come from?
It comes from above, beloved. It comes from above. It comes
from the Father. Unmerited, undeserved mercy. Mercy. It's glorious. For the Scriptures say it's undefiled.
Now here's an example. Even for this same purpose, if
I raise thee up, that I might show my power in thee. And that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. It's still being
declared, isn't it? We still read about the story. about Moses
and Pharaoh. We still read it. We're still
in awe. I'm as much in awe of how he
parted that Red Sea and let those Israelites walk through it. Actually,
the more I think about it, the more I get wound up about it.
It's true for you too, right? Because we've seen God's sovereign
work in our lives. That same power that parted that
Red Sea is the same power that regenerated us, beloved. Same
power. My, oh, my, for the Scripture
saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised
thee up, that I might show my power in thee, that my name might
be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore, he hath mercy
on whom he hath mercy. If you're one of his people,
that's you. Isn't that wonderful? That's wonderful. And whom he
will, he hardeneth. He just leaves them where they
are. Aren't you glad? Oh, praise God, He didn't leave
us where we were. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. If He had it, we would never
have known Him. Oh my, what mercy! What mercy! Where did that mercy
come from, beloved? It came from above, didn't it?
It came from above. In and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Is there anyone who has resisted
the will of God? Well, man likes to say it, he does. I'll tell
you what. You ask one of God's sheep if
you can resist the will of God. Because we were going that way
and He turned us around and made us go that way. Didn't He? No one can resist
the will of God. No one can thwart the will of
God. Nay, but O man, who art thou
that replyest against God? Who are we, animated dust, to
reply against our great God and King? So the thing formed, say
to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? So when you
do a project, say you do a project in your home, does the project
say, why did you make me this? No. No. Not at all. Not at all. context of the potter and the
clay, you know, that potter, he can, I've watched guys, I
did it when I was a kid, but I've watched those master potters,
oh my, they just take that clay and just, it's incredible what
they can do with that. Form it into whatever they want
it, and they put it over there, does that thing that formed there
say, hey, you made me a bowl, I didn't want to be a bowl. No,
not at all. It's clay. It's been molded into
whatever the Master has wanted it to be molded into. Rejoice. Rejoice if you're a child of
God. He has had mercy upon you and me in Christ. Isn't that
wonderful? He's had compassion upon us,
beloved. He's had mercy upon us. Has He rewarded us according
to our sins? No, not at all. Not at all. And how do we know that He's
not rewarded us according to our sins? Because if God would
mark iniquity, none would stand. Oh my, what great mercy. And God
deals with His people. God deals with His people, not
according to our sins, but He deals with His people in Christ. in Christ and Him alone. The
One who is full of grace. The One who is full of truth.
The One who is God incarnate in the flesh. And then He loves
us so much that He robes us in the perfect, spotless righteousness
of Christ. It's imputed to us. Our sins
are imputed to Christ, the sinless One, right? And His righteousness
is imputed to us. It's wondrous. And where did
all this grace and mercy come from? It came from above. It came from above. And we are
now clothed in the spotless righteousness of Christ. Praise God He doesn't
deal with us according to our sinfulness or our iniquity. We cannot look at one thing that
God has done for us, whether He's bestowed upon us great grace
and mercy or sent temptations or trials of our faith. We cannot say that one of those
tempted us to sin. Because when we sin, it comes
from within. It comes from within. So, beloved
of God, do not err. It's evil in us that causes us
to sin. It's our flesh. And we're safe sinners, right?
That's all we are right now. Safe sinners. And remember that
this is a statement in verse 17 and 18 in opposition to the
origin of the temptation to sin which we see in verses 13 and
14. Sin comes from within us, but
look at verses 17 and 18 in contrast to that. Every good gift and
every perfect gift is from above. So he's drawing a contrast here
for us in James 1. James 1, verse 17. Every good
and every perfect gift is from above and coming down from the
Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow
of turning. Of His own will, begot He us with the word of
truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures.
So take note, these good gifts come from God, all according
to His sovereign will and His sovereign purpose. They're not merited by us, are
they? We don't deserve these gifts. We don't earn these gifts. No, they come to us in and through
the Lord Jesus Christ, and they're given to us. They're given to us by God, and
we're simply receivers of that gift. When someone gives you
a gift, you're just a receiver of that gift, aren't you? Sometimes people give you gifts
just because they want to give you a gift. Nothing you've done.
They just want to give you a gift. Well, see, God gives us a gift
of salvation in and through Christ, and there's nothing we did to
deserve it. As a matter of fact, if we got what we deserved, we'd
be in hell. But God doesn't mark our iniquity
because it's been satisfied. The laws demand for our sin has
been satisfied in and through the Lord Jesus Christ by the
shedding of His precious, precious blood. And then when He rose
from the grave, right? That was proof that God is satisfied
with the sacrifice of Christ. And these are good and perfect
gifts. Again, all spiritual blessings are in Christ. Gift in our text
is a generic term that's non-specific. So we can be sure that if it's
good and perfect, no matter what it is, it's from above. It's
from above. It's spiritual and therefore
has nothing to do with the flesh. Has nothing to do with the flesh.
And because of our flesh, we're not able to discern good and
perfect gifts by looking at ourselves. Therefore, this knowledge turns
our eyes to Christ. Turns our eyes to Christ. Turns
our affection to Him. And we become fixed there. We become fixed. And what would
religion do? Well, religion would have you
look to yourself. That's what religion does. It
has you look to yourself. to find some gift or talent.
But if you search there until the end of time, you'd find nothing.
Brother Tim James brings this forth. If you do find something,
look into yourself, then you're in real trouble. Then you're
in real trouble. The gift, the giving of the gift
is found in the unspeakable gift, which is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 8.32 says this, He that spared not His own Son, but delivered
Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give
us all things? My, oh my. Every good and perfect
gift comes in and through the Lord Jesus Christ from the Father.
Turn if you would to 1 John. 1 John. Chapter 1. So the origin of this good and
perfect gift spoken of in our verse today is from God, from
above, from the Father, from Jehovah. And it comes to we who
are the beloved brethren from whom He is called the Father
of Lights. The Father of Lights. Look at verse 17 again. Every
good gift and every perfect gift is from above and coming down
from the Father of Lights, with whom is no variableness, neither
shadow or turning. Look at this in 1 John 1, verse
5. And we'll read to verse 7. This
then is the message which we have heard of Him and declare
unto you that God is light. Remember over in our text, He's
called the Father of Lights. That God is light. And in Him
is no darkness at all. No sin. He's perfect. He's holy. He's righteous. He's perfect.
If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness,
we lie and do not the truth. See, the believer walks in Christ
now, don't we? We don't walk in darkness anymore.
We walk in Christ. If we say that we have fellowship
with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.
But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another. And here it is, in the blood
of Jesus Christ, His Son, what? Cleanses us from how many sins?
Hallelujah. All sin. All of it. All of it. Praise be to God. Then look at chapter 2 of 1 John. Look at verses 7 to 9. Brethren,
I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which
ye have heard from the beginning. The old commandment is the word
which ye have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment
I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you, because
the darkness is past and the true light now shineth. He that
saith he is in the light and he that is his brother is in
darkness, even until now. So the light of which John wrote
up here was the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. We've seen with our eyes, John
said, we've seen. Remember, John was an eyewitness.
He saw the Lord and he heard the Lord. He's the one who laid
his head on the breast of Christ. And the Father of Lights in our
text is a description of God pertaining to the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Light, the gospel, is the only
understanding that a human being can have concerning God. If God
has revealed Christ to you through the gospel, that's a revelation. Because natural man has no clue
who God is. We can have no understanding
of God outside of Christ. Outside of Christ, there's no
knowledge of God. No matter how much a person tells
you he's got degrees or he's learned this and that outside
of Christ, we cannot know God. And look at these wonderful words.
Every good and perfect gift is from above in James 1. Then consider that our blessed
Savior came from above. He came from above. Why did He
come? To save Wayne Boyd from his sins. Put your name in there.
To save Wayne Boyd. Praise be to God. Put your name
in there. That's why He came. It's wonderful. It's amazing grace. And think
that our salvation is from above and it's 100% dependent upon
God. Our salvation from beginning
to end. And I want us to think upon this. Our salvation from beginning
to end. It has nothing to do with us. We're just receivers,
remember? Our salvation from beginning
to end is of the Lord. It's of Him. When He saves us
and He keeps us, doesn't He? And remember, He's the Lamb slain
from before the foundation of the world. So our names, now
let this sink in, our names were engraved in the palms of the
Lord's hand for eternity. We're ever set before Him, the
Scripture says. That's something to think about, isn't it? My,
oh, my. Something for us to think of.
So turn, if you would, to John 3. Our salvation, again, is 100%
dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father. God the
Father sent the Lord Jesus Christ to save a chosen people. When
did He choose those people? In eternity. Scripture says He's
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Planned and purposed
by God. And where was He when He planned
and purposed all this? Above? Isn't it amazing? Oh, it's wondrous,
isn't it? Look at this in John 3. Look
at verses 13-15. A lot of people like to quote
John 3.16 all the time, but they forget to quote the verses before
it. Look at this. John 3, verses 13-15. And no
man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven.
Well, that's talking about Christ. Every good gift comes from above,
doesn't it? That's talking about Christ. Come down from where? Where did He come down from?
From heaven. Even the Son of Man which is in heaven. So we
can't ascend up to heaven on our own, but He came down from
heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
Remember, all who look to that serpent shall live, right? That
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. And we know, for God so loved the world that he gave
his only begotten Son. Whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have eternal life. But look at the clause, that
whosoever believeth in him, do you believe in him? Has He given
you faith to believe in Him? Well, praise God, because that
comes from above, beloved. That comes from above. And then
the new birth comes from above. Look at the same chapter here.
Look at verses 3 to 8. So regeneration, the new birth
to be born again, comes from above as well. Look what the
Lord said here in verses 3 to 8. Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. That's a statement there,
isn't it? It doesn't matter how good a
person thinks they are. It doesn't matter about what they've done
in their lives. You must be born again. You must be born again. That's from the Master's lips. And then look at verse 6 to 8. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit
is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto thee, you must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth.
and hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh, and whither it goeth. So is everyone that's born of
the Spirit." Where's the Spirit come from? Above. He's sent by
the Lord Jesus Christ to be our comforter, to be the comforter
of His people. Hallelujah. So, beloved of God,
the righteousness that justifies us is also from above. Because
Christ is our righteousness. And we saw there He came down
from heaven. In John 3, verse 13. He that came down from heaven,
even the Son of Man which is in heaven. Oh, He's gone back
up now. He come down. He did the work
the Father sent Him to do, right? Manifested to take away our sins. Hallelujah. And in Him was no
sin. And he completed the work. Now
he's back up with the Father again. So his high priestly prayer
in John 17 has been answered, hasn't it? Oh, it's wondrous,
beloved. So all our righteousness comes
from Christ, and it comes from above. It comes from above. Remember that all spiritual gifts
we have come from the Father of lights, comes down to us in
and through the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the light of the world,
right? He's the light of the world. But men love darkness,
don't they? And we were there. We can't say,
well, look at those sinners. No, we're the same sinners. And
we were there. I was there in that darkness.
I know you were too. And we loved that darkness at
that time, didn't we? Until the Lord regenerated us.
Now we hate the darkness. We hate sin in ourselves more
than anywhere else. Why? But man loved darkness rather
than light. Therefore, you know what? If
man loves darkness rather than light, which we do in our natural
state, then we must be made willing. We must be made willing. Because
otherwise, we'd stay in that which we love. We must be made
willing. Praise God, He makes us willing. Can anyone resist the will of
God? No one. No one. No one at all. So we have assurance here that
no gift that comes from God will ever cause us to sin or be able
to charge God with sin. No, never. He's the giver of
all good and perfect gifts, beloved. And He will never give the believer
anything but good and perfect gifts. With Him is no possibility,
no hint, no shadow of variableness, it says, which means no shadow
of turning. Oh my, every good and perfect
gift is from above and coming down from the Father of lights.
So thanks be to God that He does not charge us with our sin. There is never a shade or an
appearance of charge of our sin because Christ paid it all. And
praise God that He doesn't change. He doesn't change. And the fact
that He doesn't change makes our salvation in Christ
sure, right? Because He's God in the flesh. He doesn't change at all. There's
no appearance change in God. Not in His person, not in His
purpose, or in His promises. God's method of salvation has
not changed. See, modern religion thinks it's
changed. Come here and do this. Do this and God will save you.
Do that and God will save you. Well, the Scripture we read said
God has compassion on whom He will have compassion, right?
And it also said the Holy Spirit blows where it wills. Were you
looking for Christ when He saved you? I don't care if you were
in a church or not. Were you looking for Christ when He saved
you? And we may have known things if we were in church, But boy,
when He arrested us and gave us salvation and faith in Him,
our whole world changed, didn't it? Oh my. Praise God, though, He
doesn't change. And God's method of salvation
does not change. And it will never change. Salvation
is of the Lord. And salvation is only in and
through the Lord Jesus Christ. No other way. And God is determined
to save sinners only in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. God, the
Creator and the Preserver of all things, is eternally the
same. And He dispenses His good and
perfect gifts according to His sovereign will. Now let that
sink in. If He does that according to
His sovereign will, then it was according to His sovereign will
that we were saved. Oh, it makes you want to shout,
doesn't it? Oh, it's wonderful. Oh, it's wonderful. And time
and eternity will not alter what a blessing it is to know that
we who are the born-again, blood-washed people of God are secure in Christ
forever. We are secure in Him forever. Forever. Because God doesn't
change, beloved. How do I know this to be true? How do I know God loves His children
so much? Because in Micah it says, For
I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Praise be to God. Every good
and perfect gift cometh down from the Father. And God will
make application in our hearts, in the hearts of His covenant
people, as salvation is a heart work. It's conducted and controlled
by God the Holy Spirit. If you're saved and born again,
that operation of the new birth was controlled and conducted
by God Almighty. And He took the things of Christ
and made them real to us, didn't He, as He revealed Himself and
saved us by His precious, precious grace. But this is all planned
out in eternity. All purposed in eternity. My, oh, my. Our salvation, our
regeneration, our sanctification, our daily cares, and how He watches
over every single one of His people. Knowing these things,
let we who are the people of God ascribe Him all glory, honor,
and praise for the goodness and the mercy and the grace which
we have received from above, from Jehovah, from above,