My text is going to be in the
book of James chapter 1, but for our scripture reading, turn
with me to Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 6. He begins this chapter saying,
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that
grace, may abound. This is a charge that's been
brought against grace preachers from the beginning of time. And
here's the answer Paul has for all these ridiculous statements,
God forbid. God forbid. Now let's begin reading
down here. He talks about our baptism, talks
about our being buried with Christ, and risen with Christ. And he says In verse 11, likewise
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin
therefore reign in your mortal body that you should obey it
in the lust thereof. Neither yield ye your members
as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves
unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members
as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have
dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under
grace. What then, shall we sin because
we're not under the law but under grace? Again, God forbid. Know ye not that to whom ye yield
yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye
obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, ye were the
servants of sin. but ye have obeyed from the heart
that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made
free from sin, ye become the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men
because of the infirmity of your flesh, for as ye have yielded
your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity,
Even so now yield your member servants to righteousness unto
holiness. For when you were servants of
sin, you were free from righteousness. What fruit had you then in those
things whereof you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is
dead. But now being made free from
sin, and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto holiness
and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is dead,
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord. I invite you to turn with me
this morning in your Bibles to the book of James. While you're turning, I want
to say some things about the book. We hear very little preaching
from the book of James, and there's three reasons why this is so. The first reason is we're ignorant
of the subject, so we avoid it. That's what we do with things
we don't know anything about. We avoid them. Secondly, a vain notion that
man can be saved with a faith that's void of works. But we
don't want to go over there because that's what James is talking
about. And thirdly, because we're ignorant
of how faith is perceived by others. We don't want to go here
because what James is saying is contrary to what most folks
believe about how people perceive your faith. The subject of the
Apostle James is the justification of faith, not the justification
from sin. There's a difference. Through the person and work of
Christ, the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. That's what Paul said. Even the
righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, and
it's unto all and upon all them that believe, for there's no
difference, that is, between Jew and Gentile. No difference. Why is that? Because all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's what he
tells you in the very next verse. Being justified, that's the next
verse, freely by His grace. Through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be the propitiation
for our sins. Now listen, through faith in
His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins. God's
righteous when He forgives sins. He's just and justified. Justification from sin is 100%
totally in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And the book of James is not
a contradiction of justification accomplished in our redemption.
That's not his subject. His subject is the justification
of that faith freely given to us of God. Unless we should find ourselves
in the crowd of those who think they can be saved by faith that
has no effect on the receiver of it, by grace are you saved
through faith and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of
God. Now if you give me a gift, that's one thing, but if God
gives me a gift, His gifts are perfect, aren't they? Yes, they
are. Then it ought to have some effect.
Because God's God. He doesn't do things without
effect. And so James said, Wilt thou know, O vain man. It's vanity to think that you
can be saved with an empty faith. A faith that has no effect. Has
no effect on you, and it has no effect on anybody else. He calls people who think vain.
Wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead. It's a corpse. It's a lifeless
body. And then thirdly, I don't want
myself or anyone in this congregation to be ignorant of how saving
faith is perceived by others. Here's what we think. I've been
guilty of this. We think our faith is perceived
by how much we know. We think our faith is perceived
by how much scripture we can quote and how much doctrine I
can spit out. But ain't that how we think?
I'll tell you how I know that's the way we think, because that's
how we act. Get somebody we don't know, boy, we just start pouring
it on right off the bat, don't we? James said, show me your
faith without your words. And that's what we're doing.
We're just spitting out words. Show me your faith without your
works, I'll show you my faith by my works. There's a place for preaching,
a place for doctrine, a place for Scripture to be quoted, but
true saving faith is perceived by good works. Our Lord said
to His disciples, listen to this, Matthew 5. He said, Ye are the
light of the world, a city set on a hill. Nobody lights a candle
and then puts a booze basket on top of it. A candle is made
to give light. You're children of light. You're
the light of the world. The world in and of itself has
no light. Just the light of conscience
and creation, that's all they have. Believers stand alone in
this world with the revelation of God in Christ. They are the
light. Now watch this. Matthew 5 verse
16. Let your light, let that revelation,
let that knowledge, let that eternal life, let that light
so shine among men that they may see your good works. Uh oh. Uh oh. Huh? Let your light. You've got this revelation. You've
got this knowledge. You've got what God calls eternal
light. You're alive from the dead. Now
you let that light so shine that men may see your good works.
Now watch this. And glorify you. Uh-uh. No. Glorify your Father which is
in heaven. He's the giver of the light.
You see what I'm saying? Faith without works is a thing
perceived by the world as a thing of no value. You just load them down by this
doctrine, and they just look at you like, I don't want what
you have. In James 2.15, he said, If a
brother or a sister be naked and destitute of daily food,
and one of you say unto him, Well, depart in peace. Lord bless you. Have a blessed
day. Depart in peace. Hope God fills
you and warms you. Notwithstanding, you give them
not those things which are needful to the body, what does it profit? Where is its value? Even so,
Faith without works is dead being alone. Verse 26. As the body without the spirit
is dead. You've been to funerals, right? You knew them before they died,
but now they're dead. Not walking around, they're not
talking, they're not smiling. They're dead. It's a corpse.
It's a body. It's an empty tent. The body
without the spirit is dead, so faith without works. Same thing. It's a corpse. There's nothing colder or more
useless than a faith without any evidence of life. And I'm convinced that this is
why men and women have to go back 15 or 20 years ago to talk
about their faith. I'm alive. Aren't you? I'm alive. True saving faith is a living
principle of the heart. I read it to you in John chapter
6. And by way of this faith, God converts sinners into saints. God be thanked, Paul said. You
were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart
that form of doctrine which was delivered to you. Being then
made free from sin, you become the servants of righteousness. Christ in you. That's what the
Scripture said. This is the hope of glory. Christ
in you. And all those who have this hope
in them, want more than anything else to put on that new man. That's what they want. They admire
Him. They long to imitate Him and
His attitude and conduct. To be like Christ. And it's of
particular interest to me that immediately after the Scripture
tells us about Christ's good works. You can read about it
over in Matthew 5. He went everywhere. He healed
the sick. cast out demons, he took away
their leprosy, he did all his good works, he fed the poor,
he clothed the naked, you thirsty, he gave you to drink. Immediately after he tells us
of Christ's good works and how his reputation spread everywhere
because of it, he then gives us the beatitudes, the blessed
attitudes. He's telling us that faith has
an attitude. a living attitude. It mourns
over its sin. It thirsts after righteousness. It loves. These are blessed attitudes. And immediately after this, he
says, let your light so shine that men may see your good works
and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Blessed good works
always glorifies our Heavenly Father. And so now, we come to
my text. In James chapter 1, verse 17. Every good gift, every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Lights,
with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." He's
the Father of Lights. That's my message this morning.
The Father of Lights. Let your light so shine. What
light? What light? That light given
to us from the Father of Lights. He's the Father of life. He's
the source of all life. And there's four things that
I want us to see in this verse this morning. And I hope I can
follow the order given to us in the verse. So let's begin
here where James began. He begins with the gifts. Huh? He begins with the gifts. Why?
Because that's where our beginning is. With the gifts. God gives
to us faith. We weren't always believers.
That's what somebody told Roth one time. He said, I've always
been a believer. He said, that's too long. You
ain't always been a believer. Faith is the gift of God. He
begins with the gifts because without these gifts, we had no
beginning. There is no beginning. We say
by faith, and that not of ourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. We're His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus. And religion would have you believe
that man is the giver, wouldn't it? I've heard whole messages,
won't you give God your heart? He don't want that sorry heart.
Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts. What's he going to
do with a heart like that? He don't want that. No, he's going to give you a
heart. I'll give them a new heart. And that new heart you'll give
to God. They always talk about man giving
himself, giving the promises, he gives his time, he gives his
money, he gives his talent. The truth is that If God doesn't
give us His gifts of grace, we'll never seek Him, we'll never hear
Him, we'll never bow to Him, and we'll never serve Him. That's
the truth. Without me, Christ said, you
can do nothing. Paul said in Romans 11, verse
35, Who hath first given to him that it should be recompensed
to him again? But that's exactly what religion
says, it begins with you. No, no it don't. It begins with
Him. And how does it begin? With the
gifts. What are these gifts? Let me
give you just a few. What about God's eternal covenant
of grace? Of all the giving that I heard
when I was growing up in Armenian religion, I never one time heard
anything said about God's eternal covenant of grace. Not one time.
Yet, the man after God's own heart, these were his dying words. He said, this is all my salvation
and all my desire, though we make it not to grow. God hath
made with me an everlasting covenant. Why is that all your hope? I'll
tell you why. Because it's ordered in all things
and sure. That's why. God's eternal covenant
of grace, a covenant ordered in all things. We're redeemed
by the blood of the everlasting covenant. That's what the scripture
said. Full provision. Everything God
demands from the sinner, He provides in Christ, the surety of the
covenant. What about adoption? It says we're predestined, predestinated
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will. What about this? A favorable
providence. Of all the people in this world,
we alone can say this. We know that all things work
together for good. To them that love God. To them who are the called according
to His purpose. We have in this life a favorable
providence. Providence. God's working things. You can't explain them. I told
you in our study in Ruth this morning. Try to go back and explain
Tamar lying with her father-in-law to preserve the seed of God.
You try to explain that to somebody. You can't explain that. What about Rahab the harlot?
God said, or James mentioned Rahab. When he's talking about
justifying your faith, he said, what about Rahab? Rahab was a
harlot. Yeah, but when the people of
God come in, the elect of God, she lied to those men who come
to the door and she let them down a different way. Her faith
was justified. You can't explain those things.
They're unexplainable. I'm not going to try to explain
them. I'm just going to tell you God uses such things and
brings about something wonderful out of it, don't He? What about
provenient grace? God's restraining hand? The only
thing that keeps us from being another Judas or another Saul
of Tarsus, another serial killer or false prophet is motive and
opportunity. That's right, the potential's
in there. But both are restrained by a favorable providence in
the hand of grace. Who maketh thee, Paul said, to
differ from another? Who brings that to pass? What
about this one? A gospel preacher. When I think
of the scarcity of such men and the deceit of false religion
and the wickedness of this carnal flesh, I sit and wonder at the
fact of my being led here, led to that place where I first
heard the gospel, and you led here to hear it. Don't you find
that amazing? It's amazing! It's amazing. Go out here. See if you can find
the gospel of God's grace anywhere. You ain't going to find it. All
you're going to hear out here is works, works, works. That's
all you're going to hear. How shall you hear without a
preacher? That's what the Holy Ghost inspired Paul to write. How are you going to hear without
a preacher? You ain't. And how's he going to preach
if he's not sent? I don't know where to go. Do you? Somebody told Henry one time,
he said, if you just believe the elect is going to be saved,
why don't you just go preach to them? He said, because I don't
know who they are. I preach to everybody. God will
reveal who they are. And what about faith itself?
Without faith, are you listening? It's impossible to please God. Without faith, there can be no
repentance. No love, no blessed attitude,
no worship, no prayer, no walking with God. And then the gift of
His Spirit. Except a man born of water and
of the Spirit, he can't enter into the Kingdom of God. And I could go on and on for
hours talking about the gifts of God, but no gift is greater
than His Son. He gave us His Son. This is the
record, John said, that God hath given to us eternal life, and
this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. And then notice in the text,
notice the quality of the gift. Every good, there's none good
but God, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. Everything we have tainted with
sins, nothing he has is tainted with sin. Alright, here's the second thing.
What about the direction? We're given some direction here. He said it cometh down. It's
from above. Ain't that what he said? It's
from above. This is the direction of the
gifts. They come from above. These things do not have their
origin here. They're not natural to this world
or natural to this flesh. They come from above. They come
from where God abides. A place unaffected by sin. And
everything we have is tainted with sin. And then watch this. That's where it comes from. It
comes from above. Where does it go? Down. Huh? Boy, sometimes one word
makes all the difference in it. It cometh down. What does? These good and perfect gifts. These gifts are designed for
purpose for sinners. The whole need not a position.
He tells us that in the Scripture. The full soul loatheth even the
honeycomb. He's not hungry. The rich have
need of nothing. That's what the man said. I'll tear down my barns, build
bigger barns. I'll say, soul, take thy knee.
He tells us in Revelation, the rich have need of nothing. The strong don't need a hand
to help them up. The gifts come down. That's my
point. They're coming down. What if God gives you a gift,
it has to come down, because down is where we're at. I wish I could... Oh! I tell
you, when the Father of Light shines that light in your soul,
you'll be a needy sinner. You'll quit looking down and
start looking up, because that's where the gifts come from. They
come from above and cometh down to where they're desperately
needed. Listen to this, Christ said of himself, I come down
from heaven, not to do my will, but the will of him that sent
me. And this is the will of him, this is why I come down from
heaven, that of all which he has given me I should lose nothing,
but raise it up again at the last day. From above to beneath, that's
the direction of the gifts. He that has everything to those
who have nothing. And then here's the third thing
I want us to see. The giver of the gifts. James calls him the father of
lights. When I began our study in Genesis,
I brought a message to you. The title was the beginning before
the beginning. God begins the written account
of His Word His testimony concerning His Son with this command, let
there be light. Now I challenge you to go look.
It wasn't until the fourth day that God created the sun and
the moon and the stars. That was on the fourth day. But
this is before the first day. And God said, let there be light.
There's going to be a light. Creation is all about light.
It's about God manifesting His glory in the person and work
of His Son. And before He created anything,
He said, Let there be light. That's the reason for it. That's
why it's here. And the light He commands in
the beginning is the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ. And salvation, where it is given,
begins with the revelation of God. Eternal life is to know
God. Isn't that what it says? Our Lord said, This is life eternal,
that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom thou sent. And then in 1 John chapter 5,
In verse 20, we know that the Son of God has come, giving us
an understanding that we may know Him that is true, that we're
in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is
the true God and eternal life. God's people are children of
God, and they alone have a heavenly Father. He's their Father by
way of adoption. through the redemption of Christ.
He's made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were
under the law that we might receive the adoption. The adoption predestinated. And because we're sons of God,
God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. You remember that illustration
I gave you about those kids? And they saw that big mansion,
Got out of that limousine and looked all around that big mansion,
and here they are dressed up in rags. And Christ is telling
them about the source of all these things. And they said,
what are we going to call him? He said, Abba Father. Father,
we're adopted. We're adopted sons. we have in
glory a Heavenly Father, and He's the Father of lights, the
source of all revelation, and the reality of eternal life.
There was a Pentecostal church up in Ashland, Kentucky, and
they called themselves Jesus Only. That's how they identified
themselves among all the Pentecostals. We're Jesus Only. My friend,
let me tell you something. No man knoweth the Father, save
the Son, and He to whom the Son will reveal Him. When God makes Himself known,
He does so in the Trinity of His persons, Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost. He sends forth the Spirit of
His Son into your hearts, and you cry, Abba, Father. Believers
are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost. Matthew 28, 19, and all his gifts
bear his name. And then listen to this. Here's what he says about the
Father of Lights. With Him is no bearableness. Oh, preacher, you're talking
about ancient times. That's a whole different civilization. That's a different time. It has
no bearing on today. Oh, I beg your pardon. Ain't
nothing new under the sun. That's what Scripture says. And here's what else it says.
With Him, the Father of life, the Giver of gifts, there is
no variableness. Neither shadow of turning. God is one in His purpose of
grace and He never varies from it. He never changes His mind. I'm the Lord. I've changed not. What does that mean? Therefore
you sons of Jacob are not consumed. That's what that means. If God's gifts do not descend
from the unchangeable Father of Lights, we'd all be swallowed
up as sin and false religion, every one of us. We have a Father of lights. If
I have anything from the Father, it illuminates. It's light. And it's set in a dark world.
And then lastly, let's consider the true end of these gifts.
The results or effects of these gifts to those who receive them. He says this, first of all, of
his own will begat he us with the word of truth. that we should
be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. And by way of
the revelation of God in Christ through the preaching of the
gospel, there comes a new birth, a new man, a new revelation. Old things are passed away. Oh, the unrest and frustration
of religion without grace. Oh, my soul. It leaves you hurting, don't
it? demands what I cannot produce,
requires what I had not to give, dangles a prize before me that
I can never reach, I just pull their wagon. Oh, the bondage of the law, cursed
is everyone who continueth not in all things written in the
book of the law to do. And oh, the curse of a sinful
mind, enmity against, not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. By nature, children of wrath,
even as others. These are the old things, and
they've passed away. And behold, all things have become
new. I have a new father. Adam's no longer my father. I see a father before him. I see the Father in Christ. His
name should be called the Everlasting Father. All things are become new. I
have a new Father. In Adam all die. In Christ all
shall be made alive. And as the nature of Adam is
set in all his posterities, even so Christ in you becomes your
hope of glory. And his character is set in you.
You can't see Christ and not see his character. A new foundation. That old foundation passed away. I've got a new foundation. My
foundation is Christ. Our spiritual house was built
on the rock. I have a new motive, the love
of God. The love of God. Now I'm going
to tell you something. You can threaten people from
now on. They can't walk. There's threats one right after
the other in prison. Those people don't walk. They're
ready to rebel at any time. They have to be forced to do
what they do. I have a new motive, the love
of God. He that loveth not knoweth not God. And you could go on
and on, but I think you've got the picture of what I'm talking
about. Sinners who truly know they're sinners and have some
sense of their salvation in Christ are filled with gratitude and
love. We love Him because He first
loved us. Good works. That's what we're
talking about. What justifies our faith is good
works. Good works are the expressions
of a new heart. A man falls in love with a woman.
He marries her. If he's got any soul, life in
him, He's going to tell her every morning, I love you. I love you. He's going to go to work. He's
going to work sun up and sun down. And he's going to work
whatever that work requires because he loves her. That's the way
it is with a believer. He that loveth not knoweth not
God. We're overwhelmed with His goodness and grace and we want
to express it. And He can do five things. The
believer can do five things that nobody else in this world can
do. Did you ever think about that? I brought a message on
that one time. Five things only a believer can do. Only a believer can pray. He
has a way into the Holiest. Only a believer can worship.
They that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. Only
a believer can have faith, faith given to him. That's why he's
called a believer. Only a believer will repent. A repentance not to be repented
of. And only a believer can love. Faith without works is death. Show me your faith without your
works, and I'll show you my faith by my works. And in every example
of faith in the scripture, it's justified by their works. James
just points out a few. Abraham. Well, what did Abraham
do? God gave him faith. He's the
father of the faith. He's used as a prime example
of it. Well, how did God justify that gift of faith that he gave
to Abraham? He called on Abraham to offer his son on the mount,
and he did. And James said he justified his
faith. Oh, Heavenly Father, help this
sinner to know and understand these divine gifts and help me
not only to teach this congregation, but to actually demonstrate them
in the life I live. Huh? Let me tell you something.
When they look at you, you've got some words to tell them,
and I don't discourage you from telling them. But I'm going to
tell you this. If they don't see in you something
more valuable than they see where they're at, they're going to
stay where they're at. So how are you going to do that?
How are you going to demonstrate that? Somebody said the best
way to sell an apple is to shine it up. Don't put it up there. where you picked it up off the
ground, pick it up, shine it up. I used to bring a teacher
an apple. I'd shine that thing up. She'd
still give me an apple. You see what I'm saying? Show
me your faith without your words. Do I want people to have what
I have, to hear what I have to say? Then live it. And you have
your motives. Huh? You have the giver of the
gifts, the giver of the light. He's gonna do this in you. Do this in you. And I guarantee
you, people want what you got. You live an honest life before
them, you give to them, you give to people who are in need. You
do those, they're gonna want it. They're gonna want it. All
my brothers and sisters, all my nieces and nephews, all of
them, they all wanted what they said my dad had. He loved people. He cared for people. He gave
to people. He was that kind of man. Well,
you want to listen to what he has to say, don't you? We want
people to come here and listen? Live this life. Live it.