Loving God Under Trials: Part 1

Loving God Under Trials and the Warning Against Deception

So as we look at this, we've already seen how we can profit from trials, right? And then we looked at the perspective of the rich and poor from verses 9 through 11. And then we're looking at right now, we're right in the middle, I don't want to say in the middle, we're just about finished with it, loving God under trials.

So let me show you a little bit about my direction here I'm going. We're going to cover today pretty much one verse, verse 16, then we're going to look at verse 17, and I'm going to pick up next week, Lord willing on God's changelessness.

He's immutable. That's an attribute of God. We're not going to be able to cover that today, we're going to just basically look at every good gift and every perfect gift is from God above. That's enough for us to look at, believe me.

Scripture says a lot and I would not even scratch the surface on that. So we're looking at that and then, like I said, next Lord's Day we're going to look at God being unchangeable, immutable, and look at God's attribute there.

And I believe that will be very encouraging for each one of us, knowing that God does not change and it's impossible for Him to change, He cannot change. He cannot change within Himself. We change. Change begins from the beginning of time and the end of time, but God dwells in eternity.

He's changeless, impossible for Him to change. So isn't that wonderful about God? Never changes in His love, His mercy, His goodness, in all that He is. So we're going to look at that and then the following Lord's Day, on that I'm going to preach a message in maybe two, I don't know, of verse 18, 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.

And that's speaking about the new birth, beloved. That's talking about regeneration. You see where James is going with this. It's so important for us to really get a hold of these great truths. So in a sense, I say He's a practical teacher, but He's also, there's always doctrine here.

There's always doctrine. Forget about these people that talk about, they don't preach doctrine. Well, if they're not, hey, they're preaching something. They're preaching some kind of doctrine. They may say that, but there's something coming out.

They just taught you something by saying something like that. Probably ignorance, but anyway, you have a lot like that. But we believe in sound doctrine, sound teaching, and that's why we want to be very careful going through these verses.

Okay, so we pretty much covered verses 12 through up to this point through 15. And in James chapter 1, so as we look at this together, we're going to be looking today just two verses. Look at verse 16 and 17.

Hear the word of the living God. 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.

And I'll stop right there. Let's pray and seek our God this morning. Our Father in heaven, it is so evident that you're right in the midst of us. And Father, we desire to continue to glorify you and praise you in all of your greatness and your glory.

We thank you, Father, for all the great gifts that you've given, the greatest that you've given is your word. Your word, salvation has come through your word. We would not know about anything of you unless it would be by your word.

We thank you for life. We thank you for our existence. But even above that, your word endures forever. We're going to go back to the dust. But we do thank you for our existence, even if it's for a short time here on this earth, that we desire to glorify you.

Help us to set our minds and our hearts and our affections on eternity. Lord, we thank you today that there is and again, any good gift, any perfect gift, we recognize that it comes from your hand from above.

It comes down to us. It comes down right to us by your loving favor, because you alone are the source of it. You never change. You are immutable. So Father, we thank you for the greatest gift of all, your word, the written word, but Father, we thank you for your son, the living word.

Paul said it was thanks being to God for his unspeakable gift, your unspeakable gift. And Lord, we want to give thanks to you also for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Father, without the Holy Spirit of truth, we would not even know you.

He's the one that applied it all to our heart. You made it happen. You gave us, we were reborn. We were regenerated. You gave us a new heart. So Father, we thank you for all this. There's so many gifts we can just number, and these are just a few.

But Lord, we thank you that the Holy Spirit has brought us into the kingdom for such a time as this. So Father, we thank you. We thank you, Father. We thank you, Son. We thank you, Holy Spirit, for the new life you have given to us and all these good gifts and perfect gifts that's from above.

And we pray and we would ask to come as you already have met with us, that Fathers would continue to glorify you, that your word and your presence would change us, challenge us, transform us, and to be more like in the lovely lightness of the Lord Jesus Christ, your Son.

And we, each and every one of us, would be careful to give you all the glory. We ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, Apostle James has just given a sobering warning, and we looked at this last week, that death and sin could be the very result if one yields to temptation by his own desires and his lust. That's what he's given us.

He's given us a sober warning. And in light of the grave danger that he's given, James introduces a life-giving command.

Now.

Now, it's interesting that he softens the blow. He softens it with an affectionate phrase, notice, in verse 16.

He says,.

He says,.

Do not be deceived. Now, we're going to look at that, but notice the phrase, My beloved brethren. That is a sense he softens it. It doesn't mean he's compromising it, but he's, in the sense which he clearly indicates his sincere concern for their souls.

That's why he says, My beloved brethren. Beloved means you're loved of God. Don't take that word for granted. It's a very important word. It means you're loved of the Lord.

Beloved.

You are loved of God. It shows a great concern. He has a pastoral heart. James knows that what he is warning about is deadly serious and wants to be sure they are open to hear him. Now, C .H. Spurgeon said this, Do not err, that means do not be deceived, about anything, but especially do not err about this matter of temptation where you may so easily make a blunder.

And then he says, Do not err, my beloved brethren. How true that is. Commentator. Herbert, I think I pronounced him right, Herbert, interprets the warning against deception as follows. And there's some verses mixed in here, but I like what he says.

Quote,.

The warning may be connected with what immediately proceeds in James 1, 13 -15, or with what follows in James 1, 17 and 18. He goes on to say this, If the former, the warning is not, I'm sorry, is to not be deceived about the source of and the consequences of sin, if the latter, it is a call to beware of casting suspicion on God and His benefit activities.

The verse has a transitional function, and like a bridge, and I like this, he says, Like a bridge, it provides connections in both directions. But what has gone before, this is his opinion now, seems primarily in view.

And I'm apt to agree with him on this. And he goes on to say this, for reasons why, and I quote him,. The same formula occurs elsewhere to establish the rejection of a false opinion of what is being said.

Now how can that be backed up? You don't have to turn there, but the Apostle Paul uses this same formula. And the commentator is absolutely correct, I agree with him here. First Corinthians 6, 9, the Apostle Paul tells the church of Corinth,.

Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? That's a question, that's a great question. Do you not know this? Very sobering, isn't it? And then he says, Do not be deceived.

For four words, do not be deceived, deception, neither fornicators, nor adulterers, notice the list, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, verse 10, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortiners, will inherit the kingdom of God.

Black and white. But notice the four words. He gives the question, then he says, Do not be deceived. Another time, First Corinthians 15, 33, a shorter verse, but an important verse. He says, Do not be deceived, bad company corrupts good morals.

To the point, Galatians 6, 7, he says it again, Do not be deceived. You notice the repetition, God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. And this introduces an appeal to Christian consciousness.

And that's what the Apostle Paul, that's what James is doing. And to the experience, to confirm the writer's statement. That's what James is using, and I believe the commentator is absolutely correct in that.

To harbor the false concept that God tempts people is to cast suspicion on his character. Actually, that's what exactly happened in the Garden of Eden. When temptation came to Eve, when Satan was using the serpent to speak through as an instrument, and the temptation was actually to cast suspicion on God's character.

That God is not being good to you.

You see that.

That is actually what Satan does. He slanders God's character. That's what it's all about. That's why he hates mankind. It's not because he hates mankind, because it's just you personally. There's something that Satan sees in each and every one of every human being on the face of this earth, no matter what state they're in.

He can care less. He just wants to take you down, destroy the image of God in the human race.

You see that.

So it becomes a spiritual battle. It's a grievous doctrinal error that we must take note of that must be of dangerous consequences for daily conduct for each and every one of us. So let us remember these four words, and they're sobering words of warning.

Be not deceived. Be not deceived. What does that mean? What does that mean? Think about it for a little bit. Have you thought about those four words? It's a warning. It's a warning. And I think we should take heed of the warnings that are given to us in the Word of God.

It means don't allow yourself to be led astray. Don't be led astray into this. Don't allow yourself to be caused to wander. Don't be misled. Don't be fooled. Don't be duped. Don't be suckered into something.

You see, that's deception. Stop being deceived. That's what he's saying. Stop it. Don't be deceived here. This is important. This is a strong command, but it's a good one, full of tough love from the apostle.

But it's a good one, isn't it? So this command is really sandwiched, I like to use that word, it's sandwiched between two sections. It can actually be read as going with one or for the other. But primarily, I believe, as the commentator says, it is for his readers to beware of ascribing to God any evil motives in his activities.

See, God has no evil intentions whatsoever, period. It's nothing but good. And that's where he's going to. You notice the direction James is going. No evil comes from God. Now people say, if he's sovereign and almighty, why does all this evil take place?

That must be from God. Beloved, God is not the author of evil. How it works is, he may allow the evil, and he may work his purposes through it. He uses it, and he actually gives Satan permission. You get this.

But God is not tempting people to evil, nor he can be tempted himself to evil. So in other words, there's no character flaw in God. It's in us. It's sin. And God comes to deal with sin, he hates sin. And that's why this doctrine is so important.

It deals with the character of God. And it's so critical for us to get this right. So it deals with, we do not cast suspicion on God's character, and in God's activities, for he is the very essence of goodness itself.

And all that he does is good. Pastor John MacArthur had a great commentary about this, a comment about this from his commentary. I quote him, in light of the sobering truths I've just read about speaking in verses 14.

And 15.

He says this, James and Poise, do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Stop blaming other people, circumstances, or even Satan for your temptations and sins. And he is saying, above all, do not blame God.

Take full blame on yourselves, where it belongs. Realize that your enemy, your fallenness, your lust, your weaknesses, your rationalizations, your sins are within and have to be dealt with from within.

When a believer wins the battle on the inside, he can say with Paul, in 2 Corinthians 1 .12, For our proud confidence is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you, end quote.

He ended that quote with a scripture I love, as having a clear conscience before God. Well, that's pretty much my introduction, so let's move to the next verse, verse 17. I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time in verse 16, that's a whole sermon actually about deception, but we must move on and see what is being said.

Every Good Gift Comes Down from the Father of Lights

Verse 17, this wonderful verse is loaded up, beloved. It is loaded up, believe me. It's a wonderful verse with truth about the nature of God, and we're not going to finish.

It.

I'm breaking it up. So it's here we would like to spend most of our time, because of it's important truths and focus for us, because it deals with God's character, who he is, his nature. It's nothing we can pass over lightly.

So in verse 17, let me say it again, you can't hear this enough, can we? Notice, every good gift. Stop right there, okay? Then, he says, and every perfect gift. Notice what he's saying. 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.

The literal translation, now you're going to find this interesting, reads, every gift good and every gift perfect from above is continually coming down. Don't you love that? That's the original translation.

Every gift good and every gift perfect from above is continually coming down. That's God. Now James, in chapter 1 verse 5, has already characterized God as a giving God. He cannot out give God.

God has an immense giving.

There's no end to it. You see, because he's God. He doesn't fill up or empty. He may empty, but he's always full. You see what I'm saying? And let me say, he doesn't empty. He gives, but he doesn't empty.

Let me rephrase that. He's a giving God, and here James reiterates that attribute as he refutes the claim that God is a good, and basically he's saying God is a good gift giving God, that's the way I like to phrase it, could tempt men to sin.

He's refuting that. He's always good. He never changes in his goodness. He never tempts men to sin, and once again, as Spurgeon says, you ascribe all evil to yourself, to the world, and to Satan, but you ascribe all good to God, and then he goes on to say every good gift and every perfect gift, and then Spurgeon goes on to say every grain of goodness, every trace of excellence that there is in the world comes from God, but no evil ever comes from him.

Pretty much gets right to it, doesn't it? Well, my outline follows this, and I'm going to just look at two points. I had a third one right here, so I scratched it, okay? First of all, we're going to look at every good gift comes down from the Father of Lights.

Second, this is, believe it or not, this is divided up. Every perfect gift comes down from the Father of Lights, and my third point was we're going to look at the nature of God being good and perfect, that he never changes, but we're going to look at that next week, that he is immutable, and then we're going to look at some applications, but scratch number three, okay?

We're going to look at number one and number two. Let's look at it. Number one, every good gift comes down from the Father of Lights. Think of that. Every good gift comes down from the Father of Lights.

Notice James says, verse 17, every good gift and every perfect gift. I said that once, but I'm reiterating myself and repeating myself because I think this is extremely important. The word every is important as well.

It means without exception. Without exception. It comes from God every time. Every good thing. Every perfect thing. Every gift.

Good gift.

Every perfect gift is from God, for the Lord is good, and the word good here is the Greek word agathos, agathos. That means intrinsically, the definition says intrinsically good, inherently good in quality, but with the idea of good which is also profitable and useful.

Notice this. It is profitable, it is useful, it benefits others, it is benevolent, marked by or disposed by to doing good. Good and doing good is the idea here. Agathos describes that which is beneficial in addition to being good, and Jesus said this, only God is good.

Only God is good. Remember the rich young ruler came up to him and he said, good master, oh he's trying to flatter Jesus. Jesus picked right, hey look, you can't fool perfect wisdom, and Jesus says, why call us.

Any good?

Only God's good. Jesus did not take flattery. Nicodemus tried the same thing, and it didn't work. But Jesus knows how to change the gears in wisdom and direct them in the right way to go in their conversation and take them to the truth.

Agathos, this Greek word, is that which is good in its character, beneficial in its effect, and or useful in its action. It's an action word. So let me say that again, it is good in its character, beneficial in its effect, and it's useful in its action.

I don't know if you noticed, but if you read through the book of James, it's nothing but action going on here. Practical, down to earth, action. That's faith. It's genuine faith. Agathos is also used in the New Testament primarily of spiritual and moral excellence.

Paul the Apostle uses Agathos to describe the gospel as glad tidings of good things in Romans 10 and 15. The gospel is good news.

You see that?

Good.

It's not bad news, aren't you glad?

It is good news.

It's good news that you and I can be saved from the wrath of God. It's good news, beloved, that we can be saved from eternal burning hell. It is good news that God saves you from yourself and your sin.

You see, that's good news. You can rejoice about that. It's beneficial.

You see that?

It's useful.

It is good. Good is good.

And I think of all the times when I say that word good, only God is really good.

Good is God's word.

Actually it's another O that's added right there. God and good go together. The gospel is good news of good things. The writer of Hebrews uses it in the same way in Hebrews 9 -11 of good things to come.

And that's something we can rejoice about that. It's beneficial. There's heaven. That's a good thing to come. Not hell. God saves you by the blood of Jesus Christ and by faith alone, in him alone, for his glory alone, and by which Christ appeared as a high priest and of which the law was only a shadow.

But now we have the reality.

That is Jesus.

You see the shadows in the Old Testament. You see what I'm saying?

Whose shadow is it?

Well, it's Jesus' shadow. But he comes to fulfill the law completely. He's the reality. So, you see the two different Greek words for gift emphasize the perfection and inclusiveness of God's graciousness here.

Agathos denotes also the act of giving. I like that. The act of giving. There's an action. Act of giving. And notice it is from above, not below. It comes down, emphasizing that every good and every perfect gift comes from the Father of Lights.

That's an interesting phrase. We got this from MacArthur and he says this, this is an ancient Jewish expression for God as the creator with lights referring to the sun, the moon, the stars in Genesis 1, 14 through 19.

Matthew Henry says, God is the Father of Lights. The visible light of the sun and the heavenly bodies is from him. He said, let there be light and there was light. Thus God is at once represented as the creator of the sun and in some respects compared to.

It.

End quote. So, notice that. James is saying to the believers by ascribing all good things, all good from the Father of Lights. And I think there's a reason for that. He's the source. God is the source.

James is going directly to God. He exalts God that he's the creator. God himself gives everything that is good and perfect. And I'm going to bring this up probably again, but the sun, God created these things.

And I don't know if you noticed through scripture, I mean if you read it, there are sun worshippers. They're still around today. They're earth worshippers. It's Romans 1. They worship and glorify the things that God created.

But don't worship and glorify God. See we're not to worship the created things. And as great as they are, we go beyond the gifts and go to the source.

You see that?

We never are to worship the created things. Now I'll bring that out in a minute. But there's a scripture that comes to my mind and go with me to the book of Job. Now if you ever studied Job, Job is a wonderful book.

There's a lot of detail and this is what I think that comes to my mind in Job. Job is probably the greatest book on wisdom. And if you want to learn about how to get the doctrine of sovereignty and suffering together and balanced, read Job.

And that is extremely important because there's a lot of people that's mixed up about God's sovereignty and about suffering. Why does God allow suffering? There you go. You read through the book of Job, when you get to the end of the chapter, I promise you, you will have the answers to that.

But Job is a rich book of wisdom literature. Now I can't prove this and maybe somebody can in this room, maybe Miss Lillian and Keith and Ben and Brother Michael and you, you have studied scriptures. I really believe Solomon possibly read the book of Job.

Why did I say that? Well God gave Solomon, we're going to look at this in a minute too, they gave him a gift and it was wisdom. Heavenly wisdom. But he had to read, didn't he? Reading is where a lot of the learning comes.

The oldest book in the Bible is the book of Job. It's full of wisdom. And I'm presuming on this, but I'm thinking that Solomon possibly read the book of Job and got a lot of his wisdom from the Word of God.

So I can't prove that, but you can see a lot of the things. And the fear of the Lord, he speaks of, is in Job first and foremost. We learn more about the fear of God in the book of Job before we even see it in the Psalms.

Before we see it in the Proverbs. Do you see the order? So Job is the oldest book. But in chapter 33, if you go to chapter 33, I want to read something here. We're going to kind of look at a few verses here.

Notice verse 8. I'm going to kind of go backwards here, but notice what he says. Verse 8, but there is a spirit in man. God put that spirit there. We're not talking about the Holy Spirit, we're talking about your soul.

We're talking about who you are. You're more than a physical being. Even though we operate on physical levels, we have a brain, we have senses, eyes, and all this. But the most important part about you is your spiritual being is a spirit of man.

God put that there.

That's a gift.

And the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. And I like this. Notice in verse 9, great men are not always wise, nor do the aged always understand justice. Have you noticed that in this world?

Just because a person is aged does not mean they're wise. I mean, they may have some knowledge and experience, but true wisdom comes from God and from above. And fear in God. You could be younger and have a lot of wisdom because you fear God.

A lot of people can have a lot of head knowledge and get puffed up in that head knowledge and lack godly wisdom. And I'm telling you, Brother Keith was talking about this earlier, you can have earthly wisdom and not have heavenly wisdom.

There's a huge difference. The fear of the Lord is the core foundation of having wisdom from God.

Amen.

It's the beginning of wisdom. Now notice this. I found this interesting. I was reading this and I said, I need to read this because here's a man that speaks some very wise words. And if you go back to verse 1, what's happening?

Elihu is contradicting Job's friends. I like this.

My study notes say this.

The phrase, these three men, seems to stress the distant relationship between Job and his so-called friends. These three friends tried to comfort him, but they didn't have true wisdom from him. Even though what they spoke, the Holy Spirit was breathing upon them.

You see what I'm saying? They said a lot of wise things, but they didn't know how to really comfort Job. And here it says, there was a guff that existed partly because the trio had been accusing Job of self-righteousness.

Job, you sinned, you're self-righteous, you had done something wrong. And Elihu was of the tribe of Buz and of the family of Ram and perhaps an ancestor of King David according to Ruth 4 .19. His name actually means, he is my God.

Interesting. Elihu was also angry about both Job and his friends, what they've been saying. Like the other friends, Elihu thought that Job had only justified himself. So you see this, but notice what it says here.

The scripture says this in verse 1. So these three men, these so-called friends, ceased answering Job at this point. They were exasperated. They had given all they could in their self-righteous ways because he was righteous in his own eyes.

Then the wrath, this is interesting, this word wrath pops up several times, of Elihu, the son of Berechel, the Buzite, the family of Ram, was aroused against Job. His wrath was aroused because he justified himself rather than God.

Also against his three friends, his wrath was aroused. He was really upset at Job and these three friends. Because they had found no answer and yet had condemned Job, in verse 4, now because they were years older than he, Elihu had waited to speak to Job.

Now that's some wisdom there on this man's part, I would say that. And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, his wrath was aroused. So Elihu, the son of Berechel, the Buzite, answered and said, notice what he says, I am young in years.

He was much younger. I don't know exactly his age here, but he said I'm young in years and you are very old. So these other three so-called friends of Job are much older. Therefore I was afraid. He didn't speak out and he dared not declare my opinion to you and I said age should speak.

Now you see the context. He gave respect to the elderly and the older people and multitude of years should teach wisdom. And then he says there is a spirit in man and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding.

Great men are not always wise and do the aged always understand justice. He got that. He got that. I will agree with him on that one. So that's a tremendous verse as I was looking and I said, you know, I didn't make plans to read all of that, but I thought it would be good for the context of the passage.

It throws a lot of light on it, doesn't it? See God gives life and he gives breath. That's a gift. May we never ever take our life and our breath for granted. That is a gift from God. What a gift. It also, God gives understanding.

Go back to, let me see, I'm sorry, I'm not there yet. We pretty much covered that. Go to 1 Kings. Go back, yeah, it's going backwards. Go to 1 Kings chapter 4. You know where I'm going. There was a man who was the son of David.

His name was Solomon. You know about him. Tremendous wisdom. Let's hear what the scripture says. First Kings chapter 4, look at verse 29 and 30. God gave, there it is, underscore that. God gave. That's the good gift right there.

God gave Solomon wisdom. And notice what he says. An exceedingly great understanding. And I love this part here. Underscore this. If you ever want to ask something from God, don't only ask it from wisdom, ask for a largeness of heart.

Have a large heart. He asked for largeness. God gave him largeness of heart like the sand of the seashore. Thus Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the east and all the wisdom.

Of Egypt.

Now, my question is this.

Why? Why?

Because the wisdom that Solomon had was from God, the Father of lights. That's why. It came from God. And God gave this gift to him. God was pleased with this gift to lead the people of Israel. What a wise gift, I mean, is wisdom.

It is.

So wisdom came from God and he feared God. It came from above. There was so many good gifts we can look at, but that's just a few that came to my mind. We can look at many, many more, but we know that every good gift comes from above, doesn't.

It?

I like this, too, to make a parallel with this. John the Baptist said something interesting to his own disciples in the transition when Jesus was coming on the scene. And in John chapter 3, verse 27, and it was all about purification.

There was a dispute.

You can almost see the Jews and John's disciples disputing about purification. And here they come. They come to John the Baptist. All of his disciples and the Jews. And John the Baptist gets it right to the point about the dispute and answers them in such a wise way.

Why did John the Baptist have a lot of wisdom? Because he feared God. Verse 27, John answered and said, a man can receive nothing unless it had been given to him from heaven. You see that? That's the first thing he says.

And then he continues, he talks about Christ and glorifying Christ and that John the Baptist is basically just representing Christ and pointing people to Jesus. And actually, he says, he must decrease, Christ must increase.

And he didn't mind that. He didn't have any ego, beloved, to bruise. This man was a God-fearing man. And his purpose and his existence, and the Bible starts when it starts introducing John the Baptist as a man sent from God.

He's a gift. John the Baptist was a gift. And Jesus said, out of all the men that's been born women, there's none greater than John the Baptist. Well, in context, John the Baptist was emphasizing that God's sovereign authority is granting ministry opportunity.

He understood that comes from God. You notice what these men do? They always go to the very source who is God. They never point people to other men. The only one was the man Christ Jesus, because he was God.

You see that?

And John had a revelation from God the Father about him. He was more than just a cousin, beloved. He was the son of the living God. And he knew he was the Lamb of God. Well, I can go on there, but the source of authority, and John the Baptist understood.

That.

Well, let's go to the next word. This is my second point. Every perfect gift is from above. The Greek here is teleos, teleos. It's a different Greek word. This is interesting. First is agathos, now it's teleos.

It means an end, a purpose, an aim, a goal. It means to complete, mature, fully develop, full grown, brought to its end, finished, wanting nothing necessary to completeness, in good working order. I like that.