Every Good and Perfect Gift Comes From Above

Every Good and Perfect Gift Comes From Above

Please turn in your Bibles to the book of James in chapter 1. I'm going to read verses 1 through 18. James chapter 1. This is God's holy and infallible Word. James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad.

Greetings. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.

For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is double-minded, unstable in all his ways. Let the blowy brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation.

Because as a flower of the field, he will pass away. For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass, its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.

Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God.

For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. That when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin.

And sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. Now our section for consideration today. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. May the Lord be pleased with our consideration of his word. Please pray with me. O Lord, I pray that you would, in the power of your spirit, cause us to know you, who you are, and what you do.

That you would also reveal to us who we are, our great need of Christ, and the great provision and supply of Christ in the gospel. O Lord, we pray that your church would be sanctified, and that they would grow, and their hearts would be filled with joy and gladness.

We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. The title of the message today is found in the very beginning in verse 17. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.

Understanding Who You Are

Last week we continued our progression through chapter 1 of James, and we learned that the man who is blessed is the one who endures temptation, which we learned was a trial of righteousness over against sin and evil.

There are rewards available to the Christian. They are both temporal and eternal, and they are reserved for those who walk and persevere in faith and obedience. You were called last week to have a holy ambition, that you would pursue the blessing of God, that you would rabidly chase it, long for it.

You also learned that the source of temptation is your own desires. The great war of temptation is waged in the inner man, and you must have new holy desires if you are to not be drawn away and enticed.

We also briefly considered what I described as the death cycle of our desires, that desire, when it's fully conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. So, in that section, the overarching, simple summary of what this describes is the first point of my outline today, and that is who you are.

Who you are. We learned that we are a complex creature. We are under the sway of sin, and yet we're redeemed. We now have the capacity, because of grace and because of Christ, to no longer be under the heavy bondage of sin, and yet we still sin.

James is forcefully teaching us to walk in greater and greater obedience, but this will never be sinless perfection. We will remain, as long as we abide in these tents, we will be sinners. But we are to be a people who are striving, and the first element of that is to know who we are.

The Doctrine of God's Immutability

The second point today is, surprisingly, a very rich doctrine of God in James. We always think of James as being very practical, very earthy. There's a very significant theology proper in our message today.

The second question to be answered is who God is. Number one is who you are. The second one is who God is. The third point today is what God does. What God does, and that will be found in verse 18. And we're going to start talking about what you ought to be and do in light of these things.

Every so often, it's about every six weeks or so, for some reason, I quote that question in the Catechism, What is God? And the answer to that question is very helpful for our consideration today. The answer is, God is the Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable.

The immutability of God, that's in our text today. And this infinite, eternal, and unchangeableness of God is found in His being. His being is not changeable. His wisdom is not changeable. His power, His holiness, His justice, His goodness, which is very important in our section, and His truth, which is important in our section, they are unchangeable.

Talk about some old paths, brother. God, in His perfection, and this is so hard for us because of the finitude of our own existence, God doesn't change. I urge you to look at a picture of yourself, however old you are from five or ten years ago.

You've been eating right. You've been exercising. You've been taking care of yourself. You have changed. The world around us has changed. I went to a place I visited when I was a child, and the trees were taller there.

The world is subject to change. But our God is in the heavens, and He never changes. He is not subject to the whims and the cares and the different things that happen in the world, and that's going to come out more in our section here today.

God Does Not Tempt to Evil

Let's look at it again. James 1, beginning at verse 16. The first thing to be considered is this warning to not be deceived. The deception is to believe that there could be something bad in God. To believe, the section preceding would teach that temptations come from God, that God is putting evil before our eyes to trip us up and to ensnare us.

God is a holy God. He is unchangeable in His holiness. He doesn't use sin in that way. So you and I are confronted with this play between who God is and who we are. We, last week learned, we are fully responsible.

Men today struggle in the area of sinful temptation and the area of lust. Certainly women do as well, but men often blame the women and how they're dressed and the culture. But this desire we learned last week, it resides in the heart.

If nudism becomes the way of the land, we still have to be righteous men and women. The blame cannot be shifted. We are responsible. Those of you who are familiar with Calvin's Institutes, I'm going to read a portion of this because this is in the first book, in the first chapter, it actually organizes the structure of Calvin's argument.

This is chapter one of one of the greatest works of theology ever written. The title is, The Knowledge of God and of Ourselves Mutually Connected and the Nature of the Connection. Now listen carefully.

Our wisdom, which James has implored us to earnestly seek and ask God for, insofar as it ought to be deemed true and solid wisdom. I want you to listen to this. You want to talk about shaping your homeschooling and the discipleship of your children.

This would be a good structure to use. Consists almost entirely of two parts. The knowledge of God and of ourselves. James is teaching us the knowledge of God and knowledge of ourselves in our section.

So we have, and this is a very great lesson for us, we have here very practical instruction and practical guidance for Christian living, but we have deep theology here. And so when we think about God and we peer into that great scope and breadth of God and his glory and all the wondrous character and attributes of God, it should lead us to consider ourselves and how we are to respond in relationship to God.

And when we're down and we're doing earthy things and we're raising children and changing diapers and preparing meals and going to work every day, we should see in those ordinary, very practical things God and his glory in them.

So whether I'm focused on one side of the equation or the other, I revert back to the other side because if I have a knowledge of God, I'm forced and confronted with a knowledge of myself. Calvin again.

But as these are connected together by many ties, that is the knowledge of God and knowledge of ourselves, it is not easy to determine which of the two proceeds and gives birth to the other. For in the first place, no man can survey himself without forthwith turning in his thoughts toward the God in whom he lives and moves because it is perfectly obvious that the endowments which we possess cannot possibly be from ourselves.

Know that our very being is nothing else than subsistence in God alone. In the second place, those blessings which unseekingly distill to us from heaven, this is James' language here in our section, are like streams conducting us to the fountain.

Here again, the infinitude of good which resides in God becomes more apparent from our poverty. I look upon the verses in chapter 1, verses 12 through 15, and I see my poverty. But when I look at verses 16 and following, I see God's riches.

And so in my poverty, I turn to God and I seek his blessing and his riches. I'm going to skip down. Our feeling of ignorance, vanity, want, weakness, and short, depravity and corruption reminds us that in the Lord, and none but he, dwell the true light of wisdom, solid virtue, exuberant goodness.

We are accordingly urged by our own evil things to consider the good things of God. And indeed, we cannot aspire to him in earnest until we have begun to be displeased with ourselves. I'm going to stop there.

There's more in that section. Great to read the beginning of Institute. Something to do this afternoon if you have need of Sabbath, Lord's Day activity. Look again at our text in chapter one, verse 16.

Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. You are one way you have need of wisdom. You are to ask of God. You are going to face and are facing many trials. You need to persevere in faith, but you have to understand that the good gift, the perfect gifts come from above.

Comes down from the father of lights. When you're traveling away from your family, I was with my wife for several days in New Mexico this week. I thought about my children a lot. And as I was thinking about my children, I was thinking about there is a biology of children, which is the union of husband and wife and what happens there and the creation of things.

And there's also this familial bond that is built in a family. Parents loving their children, children loving each other and loving their parents. And I was thinking about that. I think about family in some ways as being earthy, but God has done this.

Your wife, your children. God has done this. The giftings you have that have enabled you to provide for your family. God has given you that capacity to work and to solve problems and to provide value in the marketplace.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. So it begs the question today, why do we seek pleasures elsewhere? Why do we do it? It's utter folly. We do it. Every good gift, every perfect gift is from above.

All Good Gifts Are Mediated Through Christ

And as you can imagine, I want to argue here that really every good and every perfect gift resides in the person of Jesus Christ. Salvation, our future inheritance, the putting to death of sin, all of those good things are found in Christ and are communicated and imparted to us and bestowed to us through faith in him.

Every good gift, every perfect gift is from above. It comes down from the Father of lights. When I thought about children, it reminded me of something, an article I read many years ago. This will be another thing for you to look, to show your children this week in your homeschooling.

Look as a family. I was studying this text and this idea came to mind and I couldn't remember if it was a false memory or not, but I found it. When the baby is conceived in the womb of the mother, there's a spark.

There's a light that shines. Now, there is a biological explanation by the scientists that there are billions of atoms and it has to do with the properties of zinc and other things. When the sperm enters the egg and there is conception, there is fireworks that happen.

If you were to see this under the microscope, there's actually video that you can see of this. I encourage you to show it to your children. There is a spark that comes at conception. Now, as a side note, I believe not only is this the process that starts the replication of cells and it makes a person into a future human being in the cultural parlance, but this is the time when the soul of that person is created in terms of it comes into being.

There's a flash of light. You'll see where I'm going with this in just a moment. Our God is the Father of Lights. When He created the world in Genesis 1, 3, He said, let there be light. And there was light.

In fact, if there were no light, there could be no life on the earth. The first imperative command that we hear in Scripture is God commanding the light to arrive, to appear, to be the source of life.

And in fact, if we were to do a theme from Genesis to Revelation, we could build an incredible biblical theology of light as it concerns God. Turn with me, if you would, really quickly to Revelation chapter 21.

The Father of Lights and the New Jerusalem

Begin reading in verse 22 of chapter 21. Description of the heavenly city, the new Jerusalem. Verse 22. But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or the moon to shine in it.

And this is at least a partial explanation of who the Father of Lights is. He's the one who created the heavens and the little dwarf star that is our sun and the lesser lights and the reflected lights of the moon.

And in this picture, in the consummation of things, the glory of God is so brilliant and shines so brightly, it cancels out any need of any other lights. So from start to finish, we have to understand that light is connected with God not only the revelation of his truth, which is found in his word, but also the revelation and presence of his person.

But the church, particularly, and in this world. The city had no need of the sun or the moon to shine in it. Think about the language of this. For the glory of God illuminated it. A further descriptor.

The Lamb is its light, referring to the Lord Jesus. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light. And the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor into it. The gates shall not be shut at all by day.

There shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall be no means in or into it anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.

Last week, we saw that the Lord used that theme of blessings and cursings very strongly throughout the history of Israel, particularly in the scripture. Equally so is this idea of light and darkness. That which is of the light is of God.

And that which is of darkness is cursed. In fact, one of the descriptions, a couple of the descriptions of hell is an outer darkness. So what is the significance of the statement the Father of Lights?

That every good and perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of Lights. There's another thing I'd like us to consider. Turn to 1 John on the way back. We'll go in reverse order. Chapter 2, 1 John 2.

Light and Darkness in 1 John

Begin reading in verse 7. Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning.

A new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in him and in you. Now pay attention now. Because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness till now.

To be in the light is to be in communion with God and to have a knowledge and an intimate knowledge of God. But you see how it's connected? If I hate my brother, I'm in darkness. It's incompatible for those whom the light of God's glory, the gospel, the person and work of Christ shine upon for them to participate in darkness.

Let's turn back a little bit in verse 3 of chapter 2. Now by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. Knowledge attached to this idea of light and illumination, revelation, it's necessary that we would keep his commandments.

Verse 4, he who says I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him.

He who says he abides in him ought to walk also, to walk just as he has walked. I'll turn back to chapter 1, 1 John 1, beginning at verse 5. This is the message which we have heard from him and declare to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

James chapter 1, connection, do you see that? Stay right there for just a second. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin.

Brethren, you and I need to walk in the light. The Hebrew word or is used to describe the light of the sun, the moon, the stars. But it also represents knowledge, righteousness. It's associated with the glory and the radiance of that glory of God.

It's illumination about God and his ways. It's very strikingly connected to God's presence in the world. The sun shines upon the earth and it makes the earth alive. We would freeze to death instantly if the sun were to turn off.

There could be no plants, no animals, no water. All of these things require something from above. So, too, in the spiritual world, in terms of salvation, we need good gifts that come from above. Our psalm of the month is, we're singing a portion of Psalm 119 we did just a few moments ago.

And the word of God, the Torah, the law itself, what we've just been considering a little bit in 1 John, in Psalm 119, 105, is described this way. It pops up in the New Testament as well. It says, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

This really strengthens your lesson this morning and adds to that, doesn't it, Mark, that the word of God has to be central. As an aside, I have a theory. You can research this. I believe in a description, and there's Talmudic evidence for this and other extra-biblical things.

I wouldn't lay my life down on this, but I believe very strongly that the Ten Commandments were carved out entirely in the stone. And one of the reasons they were carved out entirely is that they would hold it up and the light would shine through the letters and the words.

It would be symbolic. And I believe the radiance of Moses' face was God's glory shining through his law and God burning the face of Moses. So God's revelation, it's white hot and it's bright. It's immovable.

It's unchangeable. It doesn't shift. We ran into some friends recently, some Christian friends, and we were asking about some standards and things in their lives. They said, things are different now. Things are not different now.

There is no variation. There's no shadow of turning with him. There are familiar words from the hymn, Great is Thy Faithfulness. I want you to turn back again. Strangely, Johannine literature is completely covered in this image and language of light.

I'm going to go backwards again. I'd like you to turn to John chapter 8. I hope this builds up some steam with you. It's better in my mind than it is being delivered, but I hope you'll catch on to it.

Jesus as the Light of the World

John chapter 8. Jesus spoke to them again saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. The Pharisees are unglued about this. God is the source of light.

And Jesus says, I am the light of the world. And he who follows after me shall not walk in darkness. I have, I possess within my person, the light of life. Turn back to John chapter 3. I almost avoid John chapter 3 sinfully because of its familiarity.

There's something here that we forget in Jesus' discussion with Nicodemus. He speaks after the new birth. It begins again in verse 10. Jesus answered and says to him, Are you the teacher of Israel and do not know these things?

Most assuredly, I say to you, we speak what we know and testify what we have seen. And you do not receive our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I will tell you heavenly things?

Now here's a little clue to my thesis here that all of the good gifts that come from God are mediated and come through the person of Christ. This is part of the supporting evidence. Verse 13. No one has ascended to heaven, but he who came down from heaven, that is the son of man who is in heaven.

Where does the blessing come from? It comes from above. Jesus comes from above and comes down in the incarnation and accomplishes all that is needed for our salvation. No one has ascended to heaven, but he who came down from heaven, that is the son of man who is in heaven.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up. But whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Our God is a generous God. Listen to the further description of salvation in Christ. He who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God.

And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world. And men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed.

But he who does the truth comes to the light that his deeds may be clearly seen that they have been done in God. The Christian opens up that cesspool of evil desire. He cracks his ribcage open and says, Oh God, shine the light of Christ in there.

This light imagery is very powerful, very important, and punctuated by the prologue to John's gospel in chapter one. Look there real quickly with me. Now, a lot of times when you study John, if you do any New Testament studies, there's a lot of emphasis on John, and rightfully so.

And there is certainly, it seems, John's acquaintance with Greek ideas. Logos and those kinds of things, certainly. I am very convinced, I've preached to it a few times, that John is very Hebrew in his description of these things.

He's not trying to be a Greek. In the beginning, God said, let there be light. That's what he says about the word. And you think about the Torah and the punch through ten commandments, we have the word, the truth, the logos of God manifest incarnate in the person of Christ.

So not only is he the law giver, better than Moses for that Sermon on the Mount connection, he is the law keeper. He fulfills all of its righteous demands. Listen to this description. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made. Now listen carefully, children. In him, and this is referring to Christ, was life, and the life was the light of men.

And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness to bear witness of that light, that all through him might believe.

He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which gives light to every man coming into the world. John's Gospel, speaking of the incarnation of Christ, saying that he is the creator God, he is the possessor of all authority, he is truly the light bearer.

So salvation is the intrusion of divine light into the heart of every man who believes. Turn back to James 1. We can't be deceived. Our God is holy. He does not tempt anyone to evil. Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires.

But if we're looking for blessing in every good and perfect gift, it comes from above, and it comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Psalm 36 9 says, speaking of the Lord, for with you is the fountain of life.

And this second part is very important. In your light, we see light. Every good gift comes from above. It comes down from the Father of lights, and now some theology proper for us, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

Brethren, this gives me the greatest hope in the world. Our God in heaven has purpose to redeem sinners like you and me and Christ, and he's done it, and he's not going to change his mind. He has decreed that there is a light that gives life physically, and he has decreed that there is a light that gives life spiritually, and he has effectuated it.

The light of the glory of God has shown on our faces in Christ. And he's not turning his back on it. Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

2 Corinthians 4 6 may say it better than any other text, for it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Surely every good gift, every perfect gift is from above. Christ is the possessor of this light, and his light shines into the hearts and lives of all of you, his people. This tells us a good bit about who God is.

He's immutable. He's unchanging. He doesn't vacillate. He doesn't have a new opinion. His ways are gloriously etched in stone. Well, time is going away, so I'm going to withhold a little bit of verse 18 for next week.

God's Purpose in Bringing Us Forth

We should consider the first part really briefly. Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth. Salvation is his idea. Salvation is his conception. The spark of eternal life is wrought in the heart of every believer who believes in Christ.

And this is God's doing exclusively. So we see here, what a contrast. Man, riddled by wicked and evil desire, sins against God, succumbs to temptation. But God, in his goodness and love for his people, has sent the blessed man.

The man who is filled with light. The man who is the light of the world. And what he does is he takes that light and he sheds it abroad. And he burns it into the souls of his people that they might walk in righteousness.

One of the things that's amazing about light is how it dispels the darkness. The darkness cannot overtake it. So it is with all whom the Lord has shined his light. Well, let's close in Matthew chapter 5 to maintain a connection to the Sermon on the Mount.

Living as Light-Bearers in the World

Which I think is very important in the book of James. If 1 John is to be believed, it is contrary to our new natures in Christ to go back to the darkness. Contrary. Last week I argued that we treat it as a given, that we're just going to always sin.

But the Scripture teaches that we are actually waging a good warfare against sin and having victory in Christ. It's interesting, the location of this in the Sermon on the Mount early on, it sets a tone.

And it will be good for us to our application. I'll begin reading in verse 13. You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

Now, this is astounding in light of what we've heard about who God is, who Christ is. From Genesis to Revelation, this picture of light is the life-giving sword, this entity in the world that gives life naturally, physically, and spiritually.

Look at what it says in verse 14. And I believe this is partially why he talks about it, James does, because of this cluster of verses. You are the light of the world. You have been so united to Christ that the light that shines from Christ shines and reflects on you, and the world sees the light of Christ.

A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

People of God, you are light-bearers, divine light-bearers. How foolish, how crazy would it be for us to dim that glorious light with our own evil desires. We need to fight a good warfare against that which sets us off from our mission and purpose in the world.

Application and Closing Exhortation

One other thing, you don't need to stay, just stay there. I'm going to go back to James for our application. Just stay where you are, you don't need to turn there with me. We learned about who you are last week and into this week.

We learned a little bit about who God is, and there's great theological works on the immutability of God, His unchangeableness. Every Christian should be well-versed in that topic. We learned a little bit about what God does.

He sends good gifts from above, and I believe this is chiefly Christ. And out of His own will, He brought us forth, He births us by the word of His truth that we could be of first fruits of His creatures.

So now a quick word of application, we'll conclude. Brethren, you have to persevere in this war against your evil desires. You have to strike at the root of your sin. You also are required to pursue with great fervency, with that holy ambition we talked about last week, that crown of life which is promised to those who love Him.

You cannot be deceived, you have to know yourself. You have to know God. You have to know who God is and what God does, that you would not be deceived, and that you would be able to see clearly what is good and evil, what is sinful, what is righteous, what is darkness, what is light.

You have to be students of the word and you have to be a repenter, you have to be a person who has calloused knees in prayer in order to achieve this. Today I urge you to receive every good and perfect gift which comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.