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This is East from West, discovering God's amazing grace through the teaching of His Word. Monday through Friday we offer a half -hour
Bible teaching each day. Find out more about our ministry by visiting eastfromwest .org
Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. See, James 1 verses 9 -18 is where we are as we continue our study of the book of James.
He says, Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and let the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away.
For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass, its flower falls and its beauty perishes.
So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which
God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one.
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it is conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.
Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the
Father of Lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of His own will
He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
Yesterday we were looking at James 1, verses 12 -15, looking at that particular paragraph and talking about how when we are tempted no one should say,
I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one.
He doesn't want any of us to sin. So He's not going to place anything in front of us to cause us to sin.
God is not the agent that causes temptation, rather our temptation is caused.
It's mentioned here where temptation comes from. Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
Then desire, when it is conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.
So where does our sin come from? Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire, hooked, reeled in by these desires that we have in our flesh.
And every person has this. Every person is born inherently chasing after the things of the flesh.
We are all born of the seed of Adam, as Paul talks about in Romans 5. This is the doctrine of original sin.
So our inclination is to sin, to take the breath that God gave us. When He breathed the breath of life into Adam, we took that breath and we blasphemed
God with it. Instead of declaring the glory of the God of the universe, the creator of all things, we blasphemed
Him and declared our own glory instead. I mean, do you understand how just outrageously ridiculous sin is?
When you think about it, how awful it is what we do when we sin. Just blaspheming
God, saying, I don't need you, I can be good all by myself. Just that simple a concept and how heinous a crime that is against the
God of the universe. You're talking about the God who created the whole thing.
He created everything farther than our eyes have ever even measured in terms of distance or time.
And God created all of that. He is the creator of everything. Nothing exists anywhere around you except that God appointed and ordained its existence, including you.
And yet you would blaspheme God and proclaim your own glory instead.
That any person would think that they can be good on their own without God. This is the great blasphemy of the universe.
So each and every one of us are born into this fallenness. We have this inclination toward ourselves instead of toward God.
And so God is not the one that causes us to be tempted by anything. We can do that just fine on our own.
Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
It is our own desires that we fall into these temptations of the flesh to the
Galatians. The apostle Paul said, but I say, walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh.
For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things that you want to do. So therefore,
God in his spirit is not going to cause you to be tempted.
He is not going to place something in front of you to be tempted by that because that would be contrary to his nature.
The things of the flesh are opposed to the things of the spirit. So God is not going to do something that is contrary to his nature.
Verse 18, I'm in Galatians chapter five here, by the way, I didn't mention that. But anyway, Galatians 518, if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law.
Now, the works of the flesh are evident sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like these.
I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
What do all of those things mentioned there, the works of the flesh, what do they all have in common? They're all our desires.
We desire those things. Envy, that's just straight up desire, right? I desire what that person has.
Drunkenness, I desire something that's going to satisfy my flesh, even though it's only going to be temporary. It's going to cloud my judgment and my judgment and my mind.
You know, the sexual immorality, that one's a given, sorcery, enmity, strife, all of these things are desires of the flesh.
These are all desires that we have. These are the very things that we must be at war against as Christians, constantly fighting against the desires of the flesh.
And it is the spirit of God that has been poured into our hearts by Jesus Christ, our Lord, that gives us the strength and the ability to resist those temptations.
So God himself does not tempt us with evil. Rather, he gives us the strength and the ability to resist that temptation.
And so as we go on here, again, the things of the spirit, contrary to the things of the flesh. So then
Paul goes into explaining these things to the Galatians, the fruit of the spirit.
So what are the things of the spirit look like then? The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control against such things.
There is no law. And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires.
Paul goes on, if we live by the spirit, let us also keep in step with the spirit.
Let us not become conceited, provoking one another and envying one another.
If we live by the spirit, let us also keep in step with the spirit. So we don't say of any temptation that we face that God is the one who is tempting me.
God allows temptations so that we would resist those temptations. We would count it all joy when we face trials of many kinds.
We would remain steadfast under trial. But God himself does not tempt us with something as though to persuade us to turn from him and go after the fleshly thing.
That is not in God's nature to do that. In the Lord's prayer, when you think about the Lord's prayer,
Jesus teaching his disciples how to pray, Matthew chapter six, our father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen. At least in the King James version, that extra part is added in there. Lead us not into temptation.
That is sure a curious thing to say, considering that God is not the one that is going to tempt us.
Well, I mentioned yesterday, this passage out of Matthew chapter four, that Jesus was led up by the
Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. Matthew four, verse one, then Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, so Jesus was being tempted by Satan.
He wasn't being tempted by God. He was being tempted by Satan. But it was the
Lord's will that Jesus would be tempted because something was being purified there for us through the temptations that he resisted and was, and is therefore perfect.
We read about this in Hebrews chapter four, verse 14, since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens,
Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin.
Let us then with confidence drawn near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
And so Jesus was tempted for a very specific purpose, that though he was perfect and he was sinless, he is able to sympathize with us in our weaknesses as he intercedes for us before the father seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
First Timothy two five, we have one mediator between God and man, and that is the man
Christ Jesus who is there interceding for us. So we have a great high priest who is interceding for us before God, the father who is able to sympathize with us in our weaknesses because he himself was tempted.
So this was the purpose that God had for Jesus to be tempted. So when we pray in the
Lord's prayer, lead us not into temptation, what are we talking about? Well, God is not the one who does the tempting.
He does not put the evil desire in our hearts. We have that desire in our hearts anyway.
And when we, uh, when we have that temptation that is kind of stirred up in our hearts to do something evil that is caused by the devil.
So God does not cause us to be tempted. He does not plant evil thoughts into our hearts, but God does bring us into the presence of many trials and temptations so that we would be perfected when we resist those temptations and endure.
Just as Jesus was being perfected as a great high priest who is able to sympathize with us in our weaknesses.
So we are being perfected in the holiness and the righteousness of God. When we face temptations and resist and hold steadfast, count it all joy.
When you meet trials of various kinds for, you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and we rejoice in God and knowing that I have resisted this temptation and therefore
I'm even more steadfast in the faith than I was before I had encountered these things.
And so as we pray the Lord's prayer before God, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
May we not be brought into places to face evil that we should never have to face.
So rather that God would deliver us from the evils that our flesh is weak against and lead us in the steps of his righteousness so that we don't even have to be perfected in this way or have these sins worked out of us because our flesh is weak.
Rather that we would be led in the righteous paths of God. That's what we're asking God for.
Lead us in righteousness. Proverbs 20, 24, a man's steps are from the
Lord. So that's basically what we're asking for when we pray, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
We continue on today with verses 16 through 18. Do not be deceived.
My brothers, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.
Coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
So James is out to remind us here that every good thing comes from God.
When we face the difficulties, God is using those difficulties to shape us more in the image of Christ.
There is something good that is at work here. Even though we would go through a difficult trial,
God is working all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Once again,
Romans 8, 28. And so we rejoice in God in that knowing that he is using these things to make us more like Christ.
So every good thing that we have, every good thing that we experience is given from above.
So we've shifted from evils and temptations that we face in this world to James reminding us about the goodness of God.
Do not be deceived. My beloved brothers, don't be deceived. Don't be led astray by temptations and sins.
Do not be led astray to think that God would even cause anything evil to come upon us as though he would plant an evil thought in our hearts.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
So you think about light just being light. Light is light. It's beautiful. It illuminates.
It shows us the world around us, whereas shadows are constantly shifting and changing. You think about the night and how it goes from a little bit of shadow to a lot of shadow.
And then as the day draws closer, the shadows start shifting again. So there's always this constant shift of shadow.
And where where James says that no variation or shadow due to change that could even be a reference to like the moon, for example, where in the night when you have all the shifting shadows, you also have the moon, which is a source of light.
But there's shadows that are constantly shifting across the surface of the moon. The sun is always constant, though, always providing its light where the moon has a shift in its shadow.
And with God, who is the father of lights, every good gift comes from God.
There is no shifting change with God. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
The God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament. We get confused on that point.
But as I've heard Votie Bockham say, the God on the left side of the book is the same as the God on the right side of the book.
Jesus is every bit as present in the Old Testament as he is in the New Testament.
We worship the same God as the prophets and as the apostles. He is the same as he always has been.
He does not change. And that is an assurance for us that we can cling fast to and know that our
God means no harm for us, as he has never meant harm for his people in the past. So he does not mean harm for us now.
And every good thing that we experience comes from the Lord for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.
James reminds us once again of the goodness of God as he started the letter with, count it all joy.
My brothers, good things come from God for those that God loves, for those whom
God is using for his ultimate purpose, those whom through this process of sanctification, he is shaping more like Christ.
He gives good things to those who love God. And so reminding us again of God's goodness, every good gift and every perfect gift comes from God, the father of lights.
Verse 18 of his own will. He brought us forth by the word of truth.
Same thing as we read in Romans chapter nine, verse 16. It depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.
And then in the next chapter, Romans 10, verse 17, faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.
God is the one who brought us forth into his presence, into relationship with him through Jesus Christ, by the word of truth.
So God doesn't cause evil thoughts in our hearts. What he causes in our hearts are thoughts that are inclined toward him, that draw us into worship of him, that cause us to love
God and obey his statutes and desire to do things that please the
Lord. We read in Romans chapter eight, that those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit for to set the mind on the flesh is death.
But to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace for the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God for it does not submit to God's law.
Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. In Romans eight, verse nine, you, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit.
If in fact the spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.
Now here's the mind blowing verse always knocks my socks off every time I read it. Romans eight, 11, if the spirit of him who raised
Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.
The same power that raised Christ from the dead is the very power that lives in you.
If you are in Christ, you have that same spirit dwelling within you. And now you can worship
God. Now you can do things that are pleasing to God because God has poured his spirit into you.
He is the giver of good things. As we read about in first John one, five, this is the message that we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.
Again, the father of lights. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we 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, his son cleanses us from all sin.
Let us pray before the Lord, God, this is what we desire that we would be cleansed of our sins and do the things that are pleasing to you.
So pour your spirit into us and let us give joy to you for all good things, knowing that all good things have been given to us from above by the father of lights, lead us in your light and far from darkness according to the power of your spirit that is within us through Jesus Christ, our
Lord, in his name we pray, amen. First John one, five, and seven, first John one, five, and seven.
This is the message, this is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you.
That God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.
God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.
If we walk in his in the light, he is in the light.
We have fellowship, we have fellowship with one another, with one another.
This is the message, this is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you. The music today was provided by Seeds Family Worship, putting the scripture into song for the whole family to worship with.
You can find more of their music and information about their ministry at seedsfamilyworship .com.
On behalf of Pastor Gabe and our church family, my name is Becky, thanking you for listening to East from West, discovering
God's amazing grace through the teaching of His Word. How far is
East from West to me? Maybe I try too hard to see.
The water turned to wine, or another burning bush type of sight.
How can it be your forgiveness lifted me? And of what
I do confess? His throne is far as East is from the